An Assassin's Heart
by Bobo the Thursday
Summary: A young assassin named Hagan, good at his job and unfeeling, is forced to learn to feel again by a woman's death. The lesson isn't free, and the costs of redemption are high. It doesn't help to have a split personality, resulting from a tragic past.
1. Chapter 1

This story took a long time to come into being. I've wanted to begin this project for a long time, but I just never got around to it. I wrote bits and pieces of it, but just left it to the side. I happened to revisit not that long ago, and I found myself suddenly full if ideas! It then became my main work, taking quite a bit of my time... writing and deleting so many times. Bah! Well, this is the first chapter, enjoy.

**Chapter One: Rain-soaked Guilt**

"I hate rain." Hagan said to no one in particular.

Hagan was walking down the dirty streets of London late at night. It was indeed raining hard on this night, and the water ran down the sides of the streets, carrying the grime and dirt of city life with it. He was walking to a Syndicate building in London to report the success of his most recent mission. He had been sent to kill a detective that had overheard a conversation not meant for his ears. He knew nothing else about the man he had killed. It was as usual for him: he wanted to know nothing of the target's personal life or anything other that where they were and what they looked like. He never wanted to know about the target's personal life. They were intended victims, not humans, not people. They had no lives, friends, family, or goals; and they had no future. That's what he told himself, anyway. The mission ended with two sharpened wooden chopsticks in the target's throat, one opening his jugular, and several confused guards. As always, success. He was always successful when it came to killing.

The rain fell harder, reducing his visibility and making him miserable. He shook his rather long black hair, trying in vain to stop the water running into his eyes. It had been in a loose ponytail, but that had come undone in the accursed rain. .

"This is absurd, I'll drown out here before I make it." he muttered.

His clothing was soaked and he was miserable.. His gi, a simple white affair with his family's crest on the left side of it and flowing black lines and swirls adorning it, was dripping water and soggy. His gi was tied with a black sash, indicating skill in martial arts, but that was trying to come undone from slipping while wet.. He wore simple rubber sandals, gray in color, and those were the only things on him not soggy, besides his weapons.

He spotted an abandoned building on a street corner and ran to it, splashing all the way. It had the boarded up windows and the missing doors so common to these buildings. He decided that it would be best for him to stay here for a while to wait out the rain, and he and walked in. He immediately heard shouts coming from the back of the building and ran over. A shabbily dressed man was hitting a young girl, no older than seventeen and shouting obscenities at her.

The girl had long blond hair, somewhat disheveled, and put up into a ponytail. She wore a plain white shirt and simple blue pants. She was no taller than five and a half feet or so. Fear was evident on her face, and she was cowering back from the grimy man.

It was too common a sight to him in his line of work. One walked with the darkest and most unclean and killed the same ones in an instant later in his line of work. Part of him wanted to kill the man and save the girl, give her the life that this man would take, even if he didn't kill her now... but such was not allowed for him. He owed the Assassin Syndicate his life, his sanity, and his future. He was their killer, one of many, but loyal. Mercy was not something that he was supposed to know anymore. Besides, the whole world was dying anyways. With the Holy War over, and Justice sealed, humanity was becoming its own killer. It had taken the Gears' place as its own executioner. Humanity was doomed, and he had come to accept that he was part of the cause as much as the solution. One girl made no difference alive or dead anyway.

The first chopstick sunk into the man's forehead, the second into his throat. The man gurgled some unintelligible response, and died immediately thereafter.

"What am I doing...?" he whispered angrily at himself, looking at his hands for a long moment before looking back up..

The girl fell to the ground, crying. Hagan felt a mix of feelings seeing her like that. He didn't know what to make of it.

He hesitantly walked over to her and asked "Are you alright?"

It was a stupid question, but this was new to him, saving someone without a contract. He then suddenly realized why he had saved her: her suffering resonated with his. The pain and helplessness she felt had stirred old, painful memories he had of a prison, whips caressing his back with mock love. It had happened before, such a resonance, but never before had he acted in it... he didn't know why this time was different.

"Th-thank you. I'm... I'm alright now. Who are you?" asked the girl. Her voice still shook, but she was trying to act less afraid.

He snapped out of his thoughts. "Ha..." he began to say, but then realized that his real name would get her killed. "Harial. That is my name. Rest a while, I'm waiting out the rain here." he said with kindness in his voice.

That also was new for him. He had memories of kindness, but his new life had shown him none of it. He, for the first time, began to wonder if all was as bad as it seemed. After all, he had just preserved a life, rather than killing one. Hope...?

An hour passed. He had moved the dead guy out of the way and sat down. Little was said, as the girl slept most of the time, recovering from her ordeal. Hagan looked out only to see the rain falling as hard as ever. He walked back in and sat down. He allowed himself to drift off for a bit, confidant that he could react to anything that could happen. After a little while, he was awoken from his half-sleep by a shout into the building.

"Hey bro, you done with her yet? Was she any good?" the voice said, cruel amusement in it. Hagan could tell the voice belonged to a male in his early twenties.

He immediately realized what had happened here. These guys had abducted this girl and taken her here for their enjoyment. Anger welled up in him, although he wasn't totally sure why. This wasn't any of his concern, but he was involved now, and he wanted to protect her. He then felt his old training kick in. These men were just targets, and he now had a mission. That was a mistake.

With dread, he felt the other side of him come out. His anger, his happiness, all of it was replaced by a metallic, cold... unfeeling calm. Kill or be killed. The targets would no doubt try to kill him for killing their associate. They would have to die. His other side, the cold predator, the slayer of men, the regret-less and compassion-less thing that was man but not man, emerged whenever he was enraged or his life was in danger... or when he had the chance to kill targets mercilessly.

It was the product of an only somewhat successful restoration of his sanity by the Syndicate after his being found by them in that prison. It was the part of him that was born from the abuse he suffered there, as a toy for the guards' amusement back then, and it only cared about killing. Not for any perverse amusement or evil goal, but just to prove his own worth in blood. Not only for that perverse reason, but the less people there were, the less pain they would inflict on him later... as all people did.

There were four of them outside of the building, armed with knives and swords. One even swung a chain. Threat assessment: no danger. The first one fell with two chopsticks embedded in his skull. One down. The other three looked around in sudden panic. The second one fell in much the same way, but they found his position, throwing from a window in the building. Before he could ready another chopstick, the last two charged into the building. He ran back only to hear the girl's shouts and the men grunting. He looked over from a crate to see them holding her in front of them as a shield. The man left not holding her fell with a chopstick in his forehead.

"I'll kill her if you do anything!" yelled the last man, holding a knife to the girl's throat.

He carried her out of the building slowly. Hagan emerged from his hiding spot and walked up to them openly. His gaze held no anger, no rage, no regret. The rain fell hard and the water was a faint red color from the first two men he killed. He could hear the rush of the water as it ran down the side of the streets, though this was lost on his killing side. The whole rest of the world was lost on the monster inside, as it only saw targets and blood. Suddenly, a splash sounded in the air: a body hit the streets and interrupted the water's flow. The water near the body turned red and flowed down the street, proclaiming death. The man looked at the girl's body, a single chopstick showing through the back of her once smooth neck.

"Why...?" the scared man breathed, still holding the knife where the girl's neck was.

"She was in the way." Hagan responded coldly and released another chopstick.

The man fell, dead from the wound to the forehead. The rain was very hard this cold night, and the streets flowed with a red river. All targets eliminated... mission complete.

Hagan suddenly snapped back to his real, old self. He looked around the red street, the bloody water flowed like streamers, almost like the ones that were hung from windows in celebrations, proclaiming doom down the currents. He looked to the girl, dead with a look of shock frozen on her face.

"What have I...?" he whispered as he touched a hand to his lips.

He keeled and touched her. He pulled back red hands, marked by his actions. Grief filled him, a new feeling, but he shed only one tear for her life and her future, both lost. He waked away, feeling grief, but trying to rationalize it away.

"She would have died anyway, right? If not by me, then by those men, right?" he tried to tell himself, but it sounded hollow.

One more tear fell and he wondered if it was for her or for himself, unable to grieve and feel true remorse for his actions anymore. A part of him cried for her, and for himself, having killed his own past innocence again...

That was a week ago. Hagan hadn't yet reported to the Syndicate, as he was still very troubled by that encounter with the girl. He didn't even know her name, and yet... she was dead. By his own hand, no less. Many had fallen thus, but this was somehow different. He felt... something new about this, something that made him wonder. Had she a family to call her own? Would she be missed? Was there a love in her life whom would be crushed by her demise? All these questions flowed through his mind as he sat in his cheap hotel room bed in thought. All of these questions were new to him, but something about that girl had awakened some lost humanity within him, a part he had thought dead.

He knew that he had to report to the Syndicate, or they would come after him, but yet... he couldn't. All of his loyalty and training went against what he was doing, but this newly awakened morality of his would not be silenced. He had never enjoyed killing like many of his fellow assassins did, but he did the job out of loyalty and a grand sort of pessimism, that no one really mattered, as everyone was going to die eventually. He had never hated it either though, and regret was new to him. No matter how he fought it, guilt shook him to the core. He knew that he was little good to the assassins right now, as he was, crippled by guilt now. Perhaps there was no point in returning, like this anyway.

He had no missions, no home, no motivation, and no obligations outside of the Syndicate. He did have quite a bit of money on him though, as the Syndicate paid well to those who are loyal. It was all blood money, he knew, each World Dollar garnered through the killing of another being. That too had never bothered him before either, but now it seemed that all of his rebuilt life, fragile and precious as it was, was under attack from this new voice in his head. The worst part was though... he couldn't ignore it. Every time he tried to rationalize it all away, that girl's face would haunt him again. In his sleep, while he was eating, and even while he was meditating and training, her voice and face accosted him when he tried to return to the assassin mentality. He just wanted to be rid of her, but at the same time, he wanted to remember her and follow the voice of morality. It was driving him crazy!

He smiled at that irony of the thought, as he was already somewhat crazy, with that built-in killer inside of his mind. His mind had been too far gone from his time in that prison. He couldn't remember the worst parts at all, thanks to the Syndicate's best psychologists and magic users, but the less gruesome parts haunted him regularly. Whips, burning iron, and daily beatings... and whatever he couldn't remember, all had broken his mind before they had saved him. It had been an accident, of course, as they had wanted to rescue an assassin incarcerated in there, but the man had died and Hagan had been moved into that cell. They had taken him and remade him, trained him, and turned him into their tool... He had been given a new life among the best killers in all of the world, and he had a place that respected him, and a trade that people feared. The main side-effect of his past was that he was unstable. Even the best couldn't totally fix him. 'It' was always there, waiting to come out and kill.

That was all it seemed to want, to make him kill. It wasn't a separate personality, but a total change in mind-set and thought processes. He lost all emotion, and had then only the desire to kill. Not savagely, but tactically and efficiently, like a good assassin would. It was a very discriminate killer as well, threats first, targets second, and reminders of his past third. He detested it's presence... but it was there to stay. It seemed to him and to his doctors, that it was a defensive response to all of the abuse he had suffered in that prison, and that it was his subconscious mind's way of coping. Knowing that didn't make it any better though, and it was a pain. Well... that wasn't totally true. His fighting abilities were enhanced while in Its grip, and it was actually beneficial to release during an assassination, as it made him nigh unto unstoppable. But now... after It had made him kill that girl, he just wanted it to go away.

"I can't take this much more. I have to get on the move or I'll go insane... even more so than I already am." he mumbled to himself as he looked in the bathroom mirror.

He decided to hit the town for the day, as he was getting rather sick of the same walls all day and night. Even if he had to somewhat evade notice, he had to go out... go somewhere. He was beyond caring at this point. Also, the owner of the hotel was becoming suspicious of his reclusive guest, and Hagan guessed that it wasn't long before the authorities visited him. Not that he feared the average authority figure, as all he had to do was make a few veiled threats or bribes, and the average city guardsman would simply walk away. Either that, or he could show him the tattoo that was given to him by Zato when he finished his training and killed his first target unaided. Though it was not spoken of, many knew that symbol, a sword with an open eye in the handle guard, was a mark of a death-dealer. Few among the normal guards had the guts to do anything after seeing that.

No, it was those damn Holy Knights that got in the way. They were far too dedicated to such foolish and abstract ideals like love and justice to see the real state of the world that they lived in. They seemed to think that the world actually got safer with every so called criminal that they removed from the world. They failed to see that for every one that they stopped, two more took up the banner of crime and darkness, and that their fight was utterly futile. No matter though, as they were rarely sent out for "small fry" like him. He'd only fought one of their number once, and he had barely escaped with his life their skills weren't to be underestimated at all. He sighed and rubbed a scar on his left arm, given to him in that fight.

He left the inn, and walked the streets, keeping his gee close to his face, and his hands close to his weapons. He had left at the beginning of night, dusk... his favorite part of the day, when the sullen red of the sunset mixed with the darkness of the coming night. It was almost as if someone had stabbed the very day, and its blood ebbed across the sky as the day died. It always reminded him that nothing was forever. He knew that another higher class agent was active in the area: Mors. He knew little of this agent, except that his preferred weapon was magical in nature. Something morbid, that is all he had heard about it. He'd seen the agent once, but couldn't really recall much about how he looked other than raven black hair. Mors wasn't known for his tracking abilities, but more for his tactical combat abilities. He was a weapon that they used only when already drawn into an open fight.

Mors was a pet of Venom, and was probably much more skilled compared to the average assassin of his experience; however, he trusted in his superior training provided by the God of Assassins himself, Zato-1, and he believed that Zato's training was far superior to Venom's own. After all, Venom was Zato's subordinate. He really didn't expect to encounter Mors, or that Mors would even be aware of his delinquent status, but caution was key, and paranoia the only real friend of an assassin. No, his real threats would be in Holy Knights and senior Syndicate members, though the chance of running into either of these two was rare. Rare enough for him to clear his thoughts of it and roam the city.

Walking the streets of a city was the best way to et the feel for it, to understand its atmosphere and feelings. This night, he could feel that the city was tense, and it made him tense as well. He wondered what was the cause of this feeling. He knew that rumors of attacks and the like had been swirling around for weeks now, but this was more immediate... more in the now. He turned a corner into an alleyway, seeing only a few vagrants there. He caught his breath and walked on. Despite his newly realized morality, he couldn't help but feel that these vagrants, soul-less and weak, were just one sign that humanity was failing. He felt a twinge of pity for them, but merely sighed and kept walking.

He turned another nameless corner, only to see young girl being assaulted by some older guy, about nineteen... armed with a rare piece of tech... a gun. He didn't totally understand how they worked, as they weren't fueled by magic, the only real power he understood that powered devices like that. It was fast and deadly, he knew, as Zato had showed him one once, and how exactly it was a very lethal killing device. Zato shot it at one of his chopstick targets, utterly destroying it. Zato had refused to let him use it, calling it a soul-less weapon. He knew that the kid was more than he seemed to get a gun, as illegal as they were.

The guy was yelling something about how the girl had abandoned him and some group. She was yelling in response about how she had been given no choice, and that how she was so sorry. Hagan, all throughout his career as an assassin, had developed the ability to see the truth from the lies that most people speak. Only a master of the delicate art of lying could tell him a falsehood without him being able to see it, and in this case, he could tell that the girl was not lying about having no choice... Somehow, that was important to him, though he knew that it wasn't any of his business.

He was drawn first to her silvery-white hair. It was so unusual, and Hagan honestly hadn't seen hair color like that before in all of his life that he could remember. Her skin was likewise pale, which was offset by her black dress and shirt. She wore long black boots with multiple buckles on them. He had a silvery pendant around her neck, though Hagan couldn't get a better look from his angle. Her face was tear-stained, and this tugged at him.

The man was much less remarkable. He wore old and ragged jeans and a dirty white tee shirt. He had light brown hair that was chopped short, seemingly by a crude knife. He had rage and murder in his eyes, but also a twinge of sadness. The hand that held the gun trembled, but remained focused on her head.

Again, he had to decide whether or not to help a girl in distress or not. Rather than the argument between whether to aid or not, like it was before, this time it was whether or not he did more damage aiding than not aiding. He was unsure... as the previous recipient of his aid died at his own hands. Then; however, he saw the guy point the gun right at the girl's head, and he could see the murderous intent barely contained within his eyes. He had no choice then, because if he didn't help she would definitely die, compared to the chance of her dying at his hand. For some reason, her death would bother him, he knew it.

"If you want to live... leave her be. Shoot me instead. Go ahead, if you can." Hagan said, concerned about, but not fearing, the man's gun.

He was one of the best rookie assassins that the Syndicate had for a reason, and this wasn't his only experience with a gun. He was in for no surprises when the trigger was pulled. The shot was aimed at the sky, obviously meant to intimidate.

"Go away! This doesn't concern you!" the man replied angrily. His voice carried the notes of near maddening rage.

The girl's scared expression fortified his decision to aid for some reason. Something about her fear compelled him to help her. Perhaps... he could understand himself, and these strange feelings of guilt better if he aided her as well, but this time, not kill the girl. Also, he knew that the gun shout would summon the authorities, but not in time... his time as an assassin has told him that they were never in time.

"I think it does... you have only one more warning! Leave or die!" Hagan said, raising his voice just a little.

"You... you idiot! This is a gun! No matter how good you are, you can't outrun a bullet!" the man yelled at him.

He leveled the gun at Hagan's chest. There was a moment of calm and silence, then Hagan flicked his wrist. The gun fell to the ground, clattering across the street. The man was clutching his bloodied hand, a single chopstick protruding from between his first and second knuckles.

"I have no gun, but I am just as lethal." Hagan said as he approached slowly, intent in neutralizing the threat.

The man reached into his coat, but Hagan was again the faster of the two, and the man's other hand also took a chopstick in the knuckle. Hagan knew the man wasn't badly injured, and should he try to get his gun again, he could perhaps get a shot off, but he was confident that the man would back off with the pain he was in. There was no need to kill him.

"Go." was all Hagan said to him. The man scampered away, cursing all the while. He walked closer to the girl.

She was about fifteen or sixteen, by Hagan's own estimations. Now that he could get a better look at her, he saw the pendant he's seen earlier was a masterpiece of crafting, going in designs he couldn't follow. Her eyes were a emerald green color. He also noticed that she had an ear stud in each ear: a small silver dot on her small ears. She was... cute, he found himself thinking.

"Thank you... whomever you are." the girl said, her voice still quivering.

"I am Hagan Ko Lu, an... no... I am a homeless wanderer, good at cooking and fighting with chopsticks. Who are you?" Hagan said, unwilling to say that he was an assassin for the syndicate.

He was actually... afraid of her reaction to that. For some reason... he didn't want this girl to be afraid of him. He was rather confused by his own thoughts now, this was not like him at all. He shook his head, but it didn't help.

"I'm Alyssa Tenison. I'm a traveling artist by occupation. Thank you again for saving me... You're good with those chopsticks of yours. Where'd you learn it?" she said simply, and her voice was pleasant to him. It had a melodious quality to it that he liked.

Hagan could tell that she was normally a spirited girl, but now, she was quite a bit shaken up. For her to be regaining her composure this fast spoke well of her fortitude.

"I... am self taught, actually. I am basically a traveling cook by trade, and I've been attacked a few times, so I learned how to use one of the things that I'm around a lot." Hagan said, bending the truth a bit the truth.

All assassins learned to use weapons that were capable of being concealed openly or not thought of as a weapon if seen. Zato had used his own shadow, while Venom used pool based weapons. Hagan had taken up the chopstick as his weapon, being that he was a cook. His preferred weapon was everywhere in the places he worked.

The girl slowly got up from the ground. She was still looking around with suspicion in her eyes, but she seemed to relax.

A shot suddenly rang out from the shadows. Hagan felt a piercing pain in his chest, and it felt like fire burned within him. He jerked forward with a sharp gasp. He tuned out the pain almost immediately, but it was terribly hard. He grunted, and by instinct, threw two chopsticks back at the direction from which the shot came from. He heard a cry from a nearby dark alleyway. He, ignoring his own wound, ran over towards the ally. The man from before had shot him, as he thought he might... the fool. Now though, the man was almost dead, as one of the chopsticks had pierced a lung, while the other pierced his liver, and blood was running freely. The man's breathing was labored and wet sounding, meaning that blood had entered his pierced lung. The man's other gun was near him, but he made no effort to try to grab it, even in the face of the imminent threat in front of him.

"You went too far. I've never spared a person before... and I tried to spare you, the first ever, but you blew it. Now... it seems that I will have to kill you after all." Hagan said, menace clear in his voice.

"You... don't... under... stand... She..." the man began, but Hagan cut him off.

"She wasn't lying with what she said, I can tell. That doesn't matter though, as the choice has been taken from you." he said only.

Hagan pulled out a small knife, and slit the man's throat from ear to ear, killing him instantly. Alyssa ran over to the two, fresh tears on her face.

"Who was that?" asked Hagan, now looking at his rather bloody wound.

He ripped a piece off of his gi and tied it around the wound. It hurt like hell, but he could simply ignore the pain for a time, all a part of his training.

"We... he was a part of a homeless little street group I was with before I had to go away. He seemed to think that I had left them of my own choice, but the Knights had caught me stealing and took me away. I... I'm sorry you got shot. Will you be alright?" Alyssa said as she watched him bind the wound.

"Don't worry about it, I'll be fine. I chose this course, so I am responsible for the results." he said only, gritting his teeth.

The wound was bloody and painful, but not life threatening, as the bullet had passed through and nothing vital was hit. Still, he knew that he would need medical attention for the wound, or some kind of magical healing, thought that gift was rare.

"What was that strange tattoo on your chest? I saw it while you were binding that wound." Alyssa said suddenly, giving Hagan some pause.

He really didn't know what to say about it, and his rather sudden discomfort was apparent.

"Oh, sorry if I hit a nerve. You don't have to say." Alyssa said.

"Thanks. I'm sorry for not being so forthcoming." he said, actually very guilt ridden for having to lie to her.

"I owe you a lot for all of this... and you said you were homeless, right? Well... if you need a place to stay, I have one in mind. Also, that wound needs some help, and you got it helping me, so do you need a place?" the girl said rather suddenly.

Hagan was actually touched by the simple gesture. In the Syndicate, saving another member's life was either the expected thing or a bad thing, depending on why the agent was in danger in the first place.

"Yeah... I need a place to stay... thank you." was all he said.

He was unsure of this shelter, but he had little choice in the matter, as his wound wouldn't wait for him. He had no choice but to trust her.

He followed the girl through the dirty London streets, trying not let the throbbing pain of his chest get to him. She had a spring to her step that he found refreshing. Hagan was still on his guard though, as this part of London was rather dangerous at night, with both thugs and actual threats. He wandered along with her, really trying to take in everything at once, to make sure that no further threats would come along. Fortunately for them, they wandered away from any danger. They were now in the London Square, where Holy Knights were out in force. Hagan had heard, as had many others, that there was a rumor of some kind of attack on the city square, so the Holy Knights had come. What force would attack London, he didn't know, but that part of it didn't really matter to him. He was only concerned with the Knights.

"The Knights make you uneasy, I see." Alyssa said abruptly.

"Yeah... I don't trust them." he responded, actually telling the truth, though that was only a small part of the real reason.

"Is it because you killed Justin, that man whom attacked me?" Alyssa said slowly. Hagan noted that she was too curious about his past for him to cover up his assassin status without lying for much longer..

"No... that was obviously self-defense. I... just don't trust them, that's all." he said, his tone indicating that she was out of luck in getting information about that.

It was night time, so the Square had but a few normal people milling about it, and about five Knights on the patrol. A Holy Knight made his way up to Hagan, his eyes focused on the slowly growing blood-stain on his gi. The wound had bled through the bindings on it. The Knight had brown hair, the normal blue and white uniform of the Knights, and wielded a short sword, though now it was at his side. His eyes were as brown as his hair.

"You're wounded sir. Are you OK?" the Knight asked, compassion... and a healthy bit of suspicion, in his voice.

Hagan wanted to ignore the errant Knight, but that would only make him look more suspicious. The key to dealing with these people was to act normal, Hagan knew.

"Yeah, I'm OK. I just reopened an old wound, that's all. Don't worry about it." he said and smiled weakly.

Alyssa only smiled at the Knight, seemingly the innocent kid.

"Alright, but make sure you get that looked at. We do have an available medical facility you can use if you want." the Knight said.

"No, but thank you." Hagan said and began to walk away.

"By the way, I'm Roy Harnett. If you do go to the facility, say that I sent you and they'll take care of you." he said as he began to walk back to his post.

Hagan wanted to run, but the Knight's concern for him was... nice for a change, not being regarded as the enemy for once. As Hagan began to follow Alyssa again, he heard an unnatural scraping noise coming from underground. It was quite loud, like metal grating upon stone, and it seemed to come from the sewers. Roy looked back over at the sewer entrance, which was actually quite near Hagan.

"What was that?" asked Alyssa with a bit of fear in her voice.

"Something not good, judging from the Knights' concern." was all Hagan could say. Before Hagan could think about what to do, the metal cover of the sewer hole flew off into the air. Then, a monstrous form crawled out of the sewer hole. It was greenish in color, somewhat humanoid, with four arms, two legs, and a human-like head with large eyes. It had only small tufts of hair, all green as its sinewy skin. It was over eight feet tall and smelled of the sewers. Hagan saw the strange rune on its forehead.

"A Gear...!" Hagan breathed.

Hagan knew the power of the Gears well... After all, they did butcher his family in China when he was but a small child. His mother and father, a Chinese and an American, both cooks... and even his little sister, innocent of crime... all were killed by a Gear attack on his home city during the end of the Crusades. The city as a whole had survived, but many, many people had died. Only aid from a mysterious fighter wearing a heavy brown cloak had saved his city at all. He actually had to watch from a food cupboard he had hidden in as his family was ripped to shreds by the Gears. That event had driven him slowly insane. In his insanity, his aunt and uncle, his new caretakers, seemed to become Gears one fateful night, and he killed them both with a kitchen knife.

That event tossed his sanity entirely out of the picture and had necessitated his incarceration. Shock and fear were quickly replaced with anger and resolve, and he drew his special combat chopsticks. Lacquered and large, each being one and a half times the size of normal chopsticks, they were designed for close and deadly combat. They were crafted by the best in the Syndicate, and he could parry some of the strongest blows with them. Also, they were quite sharp at the ends, and he could even pull the ends off, to reveal stiletto blades on the inside. As Hagan stared the thing down, another one emerged from the hole as well.

"Alyssa, stay behind me." Hagan said.

He noticed that the Knights were all moving to attack as well. The Gears seemed to be waiting, though not oblivious to their surroundings. Hagan could see a feral intelligence in the eyes, but nothing he would call aware. No, these were simple Gears, under control of another being. Then, another one came up through the hole. Hagan looked to the Knights. All but the Knight called Roy Harnett had fear in their eyes. Understandable, Hagan thought, as the Gears were supposed to have been all sealed away or rendered dormant for all time with the sealing of Justice. Hagan could tell that these Gears were strong, far stronger than any of the people present now... though how they compared to his agility, he didn't know. Then, the near silence of the dormant city was broken by the sound of sirens, indicating that the attack was more widespread than just the London Square. Hagan heard Roy mutter curses under his breath, and Alyssa clung to him fearfully. Hagan unclasped the sharpened ends on his chopsticks, revealing the stiletto blades underneath. The ends fitted on the other end of the chopsticks, now working as handles for the blades.

"Hagan.. What are you doing?" whispered Alyssa.

"These are Gears, Alyssa. The only reason that they would be coming out like this is for an attack, and you can hear the sounds of battle elsewhere. We must be ready." Hagan said simply.

Hagan heard a scream echo from the distance, and he saw the glow of fire come from another part of the city. Yet, these Gears seemed to be waiting for something. One of the Gears looked right to Roy and spoke in a very feminine metallic voice, one that obviously didn't belong to it. The voice's tone was mocking and insulting, yet... seductive at the same time.

"You are Roy Harnett, right? Where is Ky Kiske?" the voice said.

"I... I'm not telling you! Find him yourself, if you can get through us!" Roy yelled back.

While the Gear's attention was away from him, Hagan saw the opportunity to attack and took it. He slid both of the very sharp blades right into the throat of the Gear, and ripped outward violently, actually taking the thing's head right off. It fell without another sound.

Then, the other two Gears attacked. One went for Hagan, and the other dove right into the Knights. Hagan dodged a powerful blow from two hands, but took another from the other two hands. His breath left his body, and he saw stars. He was able to roll away, though leaving Alyssa vulnerable. The Gear advanced on her, and she was paralyzed with fear.

"Shit!" Hagan cursed loudly.

He knew that there was no choice but to fight with all he had... but even that might not be enough to save her. The very thought of her dying brought great anger to him, but not in the way that It would emerge. Rather, his anger flowed out into what was one of his strongest and most powerful attacks. He, by thought alone, brought thin and very durable chains wrapped within the folds of his black sash, and connected them together with small latches on the ends of his combat chopsticks. Hagan's innate elemental affinity was water, and this attack pulled on that heavily, calling on the crushing power of the deep oceans.

"Pressure Chains!" he shouted as he loosed the weapons.

He had named the attack himself, after a particularly gruesome mission where he had been set up to die. He lived, and once he found out who did it, his anger at the set up was so great that he had loosed the attack on the traitor, crushing him to death... thus 'Pressure Chains'. The chains, led by the chopsticks flew fast, with a watery contrail to mark both of their flights. The two chains wrapped around the Gear's abdomen, and then the blades sunk into the neck of the Gear. It roared in rage and pain and tried to break the chains. Hagan then ran up to the Gear, while pulling on the chains, and grabbed both blades, giving them a tremendous pull, pulling both the blades and the chains. The result was an explosion of blood, as the chains had exerted a large amount of water pressure on the Gear as he had pulled them. The Gear's body gave under the pressure, cracking and tearing loudly, and Hagan was covered in blood.

"White Knight's Cross!" Roy's voice shouted, and Hagan saw an explosion of lightening and blood.

He guessed that the Knight had unleashed a powerful attack as well. The other Gear was dead. Hagan looked over to the Knights. Three were dead from claws raking across their bodies. He could also see the body of the Gear, sliced in half and rather burned.

"Joseph, come! We have work to do!" Roy said to the other Knight left alive.

"You two should get out of here!" Roy yelled to them.

They both ran away into the chaos filled city. Hagan now felt the tremendous pain of the blow he had suffered. He knew something had been damaged internally.

"Are you alright? Thank you for saving me again." Alyssa said, her gratitude genuine. Hagan felt that her gratitude was worth the pain, however immense, and this pain was indeed immense.

"Yeah... I'm alright. It... does hurt, though." he said, his teeth gritted from the pain.

He felt vulnerable... too vulnerable. He had never been this vulnerable around another person in a very long time. He coughed and tasted blood, and had to wipe a small trail of blood running from the corner of his mouth.

"You need help. Come with me and I'll get you some medical aid!" Alyssa said as she helped Hagan up.

He leaned on her for support as they walked. They both had to avoid fights, though Hagan felt the urge, more than once, to aid some people in distress... though such an action would have only gotten him killed in his current state. No, they retreated among the alleyways and debris. The attack, they both could see, was extensive and well structured. Small units of Gears roved the city, and they clashed with Knights and armed citizens, though the Knights fared far better than the people. All in all, the Gears were winning, and it was not very surprising, since this was such a lightening raid and all people in power were caught totally unguarded and unaware. After all, this whole incident was supposedly impossible, as the Gears were all supposed to be dormant. Fact were facts, and the impossible was happening. Hagan realized that they were going towards the outside of the city.

"Where are we going?" he asked finally.

"Well... to a ship that belongs to some of my friends. They will take you in if I ask." she said simply. Hagan frowned at the evasive answer.

That was too ambiguous for Hagan, who had survived by being paranoid.

"Who are your allies anyway?" he asked.

"Well... uh... I guess it doesn't hurt to go ahead and just tell you. I'm part of the Jellyfish Pirates. We're going to the Mayship." she said, reluctance in her voice.

Hagan had heard quite a bit about the infamous Jellyfish Pirates and their ever so infamous leader Johnny, seemingly harmless yet deadly with his sword. A master of the lost art of the Quick Draw, also called Iaijutsu in the old language of Japanese.

"I see... You are an orphan, no?" Hagan asked, though he was almost certain of the answer already.

It was said that he only took in orphans for his crew, so that they could steal from the rich and give to the poor... and themselves. Despite their criminal status and activities, their was a noble cause, and Johnny was known as a protector of children everywhere.

"Yeah... orphaned from the end of the Crusades. Gears and Crusaders fought over my hometown, and it was burned to the ground. My parents were killed when Gears attacked my home. I escaped... but they never came out. Johnny took me in after I wandered the streets for a time and got in a lot of trouble." she said slowly, obviously still mourning the loss of family.

Hagan felt an echo of his own pain within her story, but... he was unable to say his own story, due to his shame over his actions back then and what happened in that prison. They had, by this time, actually left the city its self and were now heading towards a metallic shape in the distance, one that he assumed to be the Mayship. Suddenly, he slipped, and a jolt of pain shot through him. He fell to the ground with a groan. He was dizzy from the pain and he tasted blood again..

"Must've... exerted... too much..." was all he could say before he passed out.

He awoke from dreams of fire and pain with a shout. It was a terrible dream, but he couldn't remember it at all. He immediately took stock of his surroundings. He was laying on a bed in a sparse room. There was a single window, through which a ray of sunlight emerged. He looked down at the gunshot wound, only to see a medical bandage wrapped all about his chest. There was little pain anymore. He got up slowly, unsure as to what to expect. He then noticed that he could hear a mechanical hum reverberating throughout the room. He walked over to the window to see the sky above and below him.

He was in the sky! He then knew exactly where he was, the Mayship. He then walked over to the door of the room. The handle pulled easily, and the door opened. The door opened into a hallway that went quite a little ways in both directions. He saw several young women walking down the hall, all dressed alike in sailor uniforms. Obviously, it seemed that the rumor about who could get into Johnny's crew was indeed true. The three girls suddenly up looked at him and paused. He realized how out of place he must have looked to them.

"Who're you?" one of them asked quizzically.

"Uh, I'm Hagan. Hagan Ko Lu." he said, feeling like he should say more, but unsure of exactly what to say.

"Oh! You're that guy who saved our Alyssa! Hey, thanks!" the girl said, smiling widely.

Hagan was taken aback. He had never before had this kind of reaction before for anything he had done in his recent life.

"Um... your welcome, I guess. Wait... what's going on with London? Do any of you know?" Hagan said suddenly, remembering the Gear attack.

The girls all looked down. "Well... London was saved... but over a thousand people died in the attack. They said that Ky went onto the battlefield himself. Johnny went as well, to protect the children. Its chaos down there now, and the Holy Knights are on emergency alert." one of the younger girls said.

"Over a thousand people..." Hagan mumbled.

So many people dead. The thought struck him as unjust, though he knew such a concept didn't really apply to the world... though as he had learned recently, one can bring... if not justice, then protection to others if you try.

"Can you show me to Johnny? I want to talk to him." Hagan asked suddenly.

He knew something about himself now, in light of all that had recently happened to and around him. He didn't want to go on killing. He now saw what he had tried to deny for so long: these people's stories, their lives, and what they all lived for. Yes, he had killed some really evil people, and he felt no regret over their deaths, but he wondered about many of those who died at his hands. How many were innocent of real crimes, but were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Like that girl... and like that detective he had so recently killed on assignment. He was really only doing his job, and he died for trying to save people in his own way.

"Sure, come with us." one of the girls said.

They all walked down the hall with Hagan in tow. He wondered if it was possible for him to actually do something about the downward spiral the world was going down. He had saved a girl, Alyssa, whom had a surrogate family whom all cared about her and would grieved her loss. She had her own aspirations as an artist and a place among other people. He had given all of that back to her by saving her. This... was preferable by far to killing people under orders. No, he was going to recant his membership into the Syndicate. He was going to, if possible, join these Jellyfish pirates for a time to try to do some good in the world for once. Also, he didn't want to admit it to himself, but he would need the pirates to help protect him from the Syndicate if they ever found him out.

"We're at his room. Just knock. We're gonna go get something to eat at the mess hall. You can join us if you get done quickly." one of the girls said, breaking his thoughts.

"Uh, sure..." he said, still unsure how to react to all of this friendliness.

The girls kept on going down another hall, giggling and talking.

The door he was at was actually kinda funny looking. There were numerous signs on and around it. Right in the middle of it, was a skull and crossbones, grinning at him. There was one small piece of writing stuck in the door, advising all of the girls on the ship that Johnny belongs to May. Hagan chuckled quietly to himself. He rapped on the door sharply. Quickly, the door opened to revel someone he recognized from descriptions to be May and a blue haired girl. The girl had wings... she was the rogue Gear Dizzy then, he thought. The only blue haired girl with wings on the Mayship that he had heard of was Dizzy. He felt a small pang of fear, but it was quickly crushed. No, Dizzy seemed to back away from him and hold her head down, almost as if she feared him.

Hagen hadn't expected to he these two. He looked around, quickly trying to figure out what she should say. The room its self was done in good taste, There were few decorations: a bonsai here, and a wall scroll with Japanese characters written on it. On the wall across from him were a pair of swords mounted on the wall. They were katanas, and beautifully crafted ones at that. There was a table in the middle of the room with a single candle on it. He would have looked around more, but May's voice snapped him to attention.

"Hey... you're that Hagan guy we picked up, right?" May asked, looking him over closely.

"Yeah... you're May, right? Second in command of the Mayship?" Hagan responded simply.

"That's me. You're well informed, and I hear that you fight pretty well. In fact, I hear that you took down two Gears by yourself, with a gunshot wound no less. Where'd you learn to fight like that?" May asked, cutting right to an issue that he had been debating over, whether to tell them his true origins or not.

He made his decision and took a deep breath.

"I learned how to fight from Zato-1 himself. I am... was an assassin for the Assassin's Syndicate. I've left that organization now, after... well... I uh, had a moral awakening. I guess that's how I'd put it. Its still strange to me." he said and hoped for the best.

It sounded really... dumb to him, but that was that. He knew that it would come out eventually if he hid it, and then it would probably be under the worst of circumstances. No, he'd lay out the facts now and hope that they would trust him. May's jaw dropped openly, obviously not expecting that answer. Dizzy backed away a step further.

"Assassins can't be trusted. To kill without regret, people like that cannot be trusted." May said, her eyes narrowing.

"I did save Alyssa, didn't I?" Hagan responded, desperately hoping that this wasn't going to go where it seemed that it would.

"Yes, but how are we to know that you didn't arrange that, or use that to infiltrate us?" May shot back, glaring.

"Then why would I be so honest? Assassin's rules state to never mention the Syndicate. Why then the honesty? I could've just lied." Hagan said, just a little anger creeping into his voice.

"Umm... To catch us off guard, I guess. Anyway, I don't trust you at all. You're too suspicious, even with saving Alyssa. Too much good timing." May said.

Hagan noticed that Dizzy just stood and watched the two of them argue, not saying a thing.

"Miss Dizzy, would you trust me?" Hagan asked, taking a huge gamble.

"Um... Uh... You did save Alyssa from getting killed... But you are suspicious as well... I don't know." she said and looked away.

Hagan noted her obvious insecurity with confusion. She was a Gear, a powerful weapon, and something to be feared.

"Uh... I'm gonna go for some air... I'm sorry." Dizzy said and fled the place.

Hagan looked after her, confused. He could feel the tension in the room, and knew he was losing this.

"You scared her away. You look better and better." May said sarcastically.

"Well... I can't help it if she's just shy. Where's Johnny? He will decide this." Hagan said, knowing that May would never accept him right then.

"Hmph. Like he'd even want to talk to you. He's out training his Iaijutsu, and if your mission is to get him, that skill will defeat you, no matter how good you are." May said with a smirk.

"I don't doubt it one bit. I'm no match for the Iaijutsu and I know it." Hagan said.

May glared at him, and he sighed. This was going very badly, and he needed to do something, and do it fast if he wanted to get May to listen to him. His thoughts were broken by a sound from the corner of the room, near a closet.

"So, we're alone in this room. Good." a voice said from behind the closet door.

"Who's there?" May shouted.

Hagan stealthily slid a hand into his gi, looking for a chopstick. He found his personal set resting in their clip. He got ready for a fight.

The closet opened, and a youth stepped out. He had a thin build, almost wiry, if not for the muscles he had. His face was obscured by black goggles. He was dressed all in black, his long black hair running down his back, his black jumpsuit featureless, and around his right arm was a bone whip seemingly made from vertebrae of some kind, probably human. It was coiled up his arm, ending at his shoulder. It seemed to come from under the sleeve of his trench coat, so Hagan couldn't tell how the weapon was attached to him. Such a strange thing as his weapon...

"You must be Mors, right? I heard that you were operating in this area. What are you doing on this ship?" Hagan asked, all too sure that he already knew.

"To kill you, obviously. Well... taking out any of the crew of Johnny would win we extra money and respect, but you are my target. I have orders to either take you in alive, or kill you if you prove troublesome... and I do hope you plan on being troublesome... Venom had you followed, you know? His agents saw the fight you had near our building and how you idiotically tried to avoid the Syndicate. We know more than you give us credit for. You shouldn't underestimate us. You were one of us." Mors said, his voice full of malice and contempt.

"You fool, Mors! The Syndicate is wrong in what its doing. We don't have the right to kill people just because we want to." Hagan said defiantly.

"Oh, this coming from 'The Cook of Hell's Kitchen.' Who would've thought! Zato must feel shame in the afterlife." Mors said darkly.

"Mors, get off of this ship and hurt no one on it. I mean it." Hagan said, some of the old killer's edge returning to his voice.

May, through all of this, was simply watching and waiting for the right target to present its self. Mors suddenly flicked his wrist, and Hagan felt the painful caress of a whip, though this one was not so cord-like as a normal whip. It hurt a whole lot more. He spun, launching a chopstick at Mors in return. He dodged it and spun back, intending to whip Hagan, but he ducked under the blow. He jumped back and threw another chopstick at Mors. He slipped past it and charged at Hagan.

"May! Get gone already! This is my fight, as he came onto the ship for me! Go!" Hagan shouted as he dodged another whip lashing.

He struck a quick jab at Mors' kidney, but he fell back, mostly dodging the blow.

"Where's your skill Hagan? This is nothing!" Mors taunted.

"Mors, we're wasting our time here. Just go home." Hagan said.

Mors responded by lashing at Hagan with that bone whip. He dodged by flipping back. Hagan concentrated for a moment, willing some of the energy within himself, as well as his anger at Mors, to flow into a technique.

"If you won't leave, then I'll have to make sure that you can't hurt anyone ever again." Hagan said, focusing his power.

"Go for it. I'm waiting, you know." Mors said with a devious and confident smile.

"Pressure Chains!" Hagan said, invoking his most powerful attack.

The chains again mystically connected to his special chopsticks, which he had in his hands in the blink of an eye. He threw the chopsticks, which sought out their target: Mors. His eyes widened for a moment in surprise, and then he grinned.

"Oooh! I get to see one of your best already!" Mors said with a bemused voice.

Right as the chains would've wrapped around Mors, he spun in mid-air, deflecting the chains with his whip and throwing a small dagger back at Hagan at the same time. The chains flew back to Hagan, whom was now on the ground with the dagger deeply buried in his shoulder.

"I've trained to defeat you, Hagan. After all, so many people thought that you would be better than me. I couldn't resist the challenge. But now... it seems that all of the others were wrong about you, now doesn't it? I'm better than you." Mors said, grinning.

Mors walked slowly up to Hagan, whom was crouching and clutching his wounded shoulder.

"Go to hell... Mors. Even if you kill me, you'll not make it off of this ship." Hagan said grimly.

"Really? I've already prepared my escape. I'll not be stopped by these pissants, you know!" Mors responded simply, and chuckled.

Hagan knew he was beaten. He was still unable to fight at his best from all of his wounds. Though they had been aided and treated, they were still bad wounds. All of his chest burned, and his breathing felt far more forced than normal. Added on to that was the damage, both physical and psychological, that Mors had done. His taunts angered and humiliated him, and he felt their stings. Right as Mors went for the killing stroke, he flew back as an anchor crashed into him.

"I don't exactly know what all is going on, but I can tell that you are far worse than this Hagan guy." May said, her anchor in hand.

May turned to Hagan as if to say something, but then she shuddered violently for a second and fell to the floor.

"Never underestimate the power of electricity. I can channel it through my whip... to great effect, as she just found out. No one interferes with Mors' hunt!" Mors said gleefully as he flipped off of the floor and back on his feet.

Hagan formulated a desperate plan: run out of the room, and hopefully bump into Johnny or someone who could help him. Before Mors could strike the final blow, Hagan burst into a sudden run, dashing through the ajar door of the room and out into the hallway with a shout.

Mors followed quickly, ever intent on scoring the kill. Hagan jumped up, despite the pain, and hurled another chopstick at Mors. Mors dodged it well, but Hagan came in right behind the attack, and delivered a powerful kick to Mors' ribs. He fell to the ground, and Hagan went to stomp on the prone Mors, but he twisted Hagan's ankle, causing him to loose his balance and fall beside Mors. He spun his hand around in a fist and cracked Hagan across the face. Hagan's vision blurred as his head impacted the hard metal floor right after Mors' fist hit him. Hagan tried to roll over to get up, but as he was still disoriented by the most recent blow, Mors got up faster and kicked him in the ribs. Hagan coughed up blood as he fell again to the floor. He coughed a few more times as he weakly struggled to get up and fell back down again. Desperation began to set in.

"You almost showed a bit of that old fighting spirit for a second. Too bad you suck too much to have done anything with it, you know." Mors said and pulled out a knife.

"Who are you!? Get off of him!" shouted a female voice from out of nowhere.

Mors turned and barely dodged a... brick... hurled at his head. Hagan turned to see Alyssa, her face a mask of anger, and a large metal paintbrush in hand. Alyssa swished the paintbrush around in some pattern, and there appeared another brick. Hagan noticed that the brick that had already been thrown had turned into a reddish, paint-like goo.

"What is this? When does this freak show end?" Mors said and shook his head.

"Go... Get help... he's too strong." Hagan breathed, hoping to get Alyssa to go away for her own safety.

"No..You saved me twice. Now I get to repay you. Besides, you're a nice guy, and Johnny's crew should always save the day!" Alyssa said in a confident and determined voice.

"Save the day? A bunch of children can't 'save the day.' You all should be in a school or something." Mors said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"You'll rue the day you angered this artist!" Alyssa said as she hurled the brick at Mors. He, having easily anticipated the blow, dodged it without effort.

"No, no, no. This is not how it works, girl. I am one of the best assassins in all of the Syndicate. You are some no-talent artist who's to young to drink and who's closer to death now than any girl of your age should be. Think! You are dead if you keep this up. I have no qualms with killing you." Mors said, giving her a cold smile. His whip twitched randomly, as if it were alive.

Sparks of electrical currant began to run down the bone whip twitching from his coat. Hagan felt a fresh surge of anger and despair at the mention of her dying. He had sworn to prevent just such a thing, to protect this girl.

He stood, despite the pain and the sudden blurring of his vision. Something inside of him stirred. He could feel It inside of him, wriggling to get free as much as it always did; however, this time, its power and intensity were far different, and far, far stronger than ever before. He felt anger, hate, and rage boiling out from his dark side, rather than the normal calm killing intent it always had before. He was afraid of it for the first time in his life. Mors hadn't yet noticed his standing up, and he advanced on Alyssa, the killing glint in his eye. At the thought of her death, It entirely took over him in a rush. He knew blood and pain. He also knew hate and rage. Hagan was temporarily no more. His dark side, Devil, was fully free at last.


	2. Chapter 2

Hello! This is the second chapter is my story. Its taken off rather well, I must say! It been a lot of fn to write thus far, and It should only get better from here. For those of you enjoying my story, this chapter is dedicated to all of you... few or many. Enjoy!

**Chapter Two: On the Other Side of the Mirror**

"Mors... Its time for you to die now." Devil said gleefully.

Mors turned around, only to catch Devil's fist right to his temple. Mors fell, and at the same time, tried to whip Devil, whom only stepped back a bit to avoid it. Mors fell to the ground, but quickly got back up.

"Are you serious this time?" Mors asked, unaware of what was really going on.

"More than you know, dead man. I'll flay the skin from your bones!" Devil said. Alyssa could only watch and see that this new Hagan's eyes held none of the kindness that they held before. Now, only hate and malice were in that gaze of his.

"Glad to hear it! Now I can get serious!" Mors said and shot his whip out in a series of attacks.

Devil simply either dodged or blocked all of the strikes, without any real effort. Devil then threw a handful of chopstick at Mors.

"Flame Knives!" Devil shouted and snapped his fingers. The chopsticks caught fire in mid-air and homed in on Mors. The astonished assassin barely dodged the flaming weapons by falling to the floor in a roll.

"But...! You're element is water! How?" Mors sputtered in shock.

"Too much for you? Bah! Don't waste my time! Fight or die!" Devil shouted as he leaped in for the kill.

Devil delivered several quick jabs to Mors' body, all the while weaving and dodging around Mors' clumsy counter-strikes. Devil leaped back suddenly, and drew his fighting chopsticks again. Mors got to his feet slowly, looking carefully at Devil. Devil suddenly smirked at Mors.

"What is it? What are you smirking at, you stupid bastard!?" Mors shouted, his frustration evident in his voice.

"You're dead." Devil said simply.

All the while, Alyssa watched the fight with growing despair and horror. She knew a bit about this man called Hagan, even though she had only been with him for a little bit. This person fighting Mors wasn't the Hagan she had seen at all. This Hagan was what she had always pictured a monster to really be like. This Hagan was a nightmare for her. She sunk to the floor in despair, not knowing what was going on anymore. All she knew was that she had again been saved by him, even if he was now somehow evil. She could also tell that Mors was going to die at Hagan's hands, there was do doubt about that. She could tell that he was simply playing with Mors, waiting to make the kill. What was she to do?

Before Mors could react to Devil's statement, Devil threw chopstick after chopstick at Mors. "Rain of Fire!" Devil shouted as each chopstick caught fire in mid-air and flew at the bewildered Mors.

Mors' whip flew out over and over, trying to deflect the flaming projectiles, but there were too many, and one pierced Mors' leg, both impaling and burning him. He fell, and another one sunk into his right arm. He did escape most of them, but he was now badly wounded, and his fighting ability was now next to zero.

"Mors... I really expected more of you than that. After all of that talk you gave earlier, I was hoping that you would be able to actually fight. I guess you're just trash after all. An inferior warrior from an inferior teacher. You fail." Devil taunted mercilessly.

Mors grimaced from both the pain and the insult. "Who... are you, you freak of nature? You're not the Hagan I saw train..." Mors said, pain laced in his voice.

"I... I am... call me Devil, if you want to name me. I am a devil and am the one who will send you to hell." Devil said simply.

This Devil stood over Mors, leering at him. He was quietly chuckling, his hands going for the kill, wrapping around his neck.

"No!" cried out Alyssa. Tears ran down her face. She had a look of tremendous emotional pain on her face, and she sunk to her knees.

Devil turned suddenly to face her. She shivered when she looked into his eyes, seeing the blood lust within. He stared at her intently for a moment, as if she confused him somehow.

"Girl... You should run. This will get bloody." Devil said simply, though his voice shook a little.

"I heard you were an assassin from Dizzy, but I didn't believe it... until now." Alyssa said, obvious sorrow in her voice.

Both turned when they heard Mors grunt. They saw him standing, though barely. He was beaten, and he knew it.

"You fool girl! He's one of the best, you know! He beat me well enough... You were fooled by his repentant demeanor, and now you see his true self." Mors said grimly.

"That, that's not true... I... I'm not a killer... But I am an assassin! I..." Devil said, his voice badly shaking and emotional.

He was no longer totally Devil, as some of his other self had come out. He had paused in his steps, his face betraying the struggle occurring within his mind. He twitched violently, and his hands went up to cover his eyes.

Everyone was so focused on the spectacle of Hagan that they hadn't noticed their new guests. Johnny and Dizzy watched from the corner of the hall, clearly astonished.

"What can you tell me, Dizzy?' asked Johnny.

"I... I don't know. Its like looking at two people when I see him. One is... kind, yet fragile. The other is... rage. Pure rage. Its like nothing I've seen." she said, watching.

Johnny stepped out to stop the fight. "You, Hagan... stop this at once!" he shouted, resting his hand on his sword.

Devil turned, his control wavering. "You... you're too late for that. I'm already losing... control." he said as he clutched his head. "He will awaken soon. I'll see you again... sometime." he said and passed out.

Johnny took the two to the medical bay, not quite sure as to what exactly was going on.

Hagan 'awoke' in a dismal void, befit of color or feature. It was as if he stood above nothingness its self, and he was the last thing alive. He felt somehow at home here though, and that troubled him most of all. He started to walk, obeying some sourceless compulsion to go somewhere. He soon saw another him walking towards him... but it was obviously not him at the same time. Rage marred this other self's features, and scars adorned his flesh. He walked with a purpose to his gait, and he embodied death in human form. Hagan somehow knew whom this other self was. This was his dark side, Devil, incarnate.

"We're inside my mind, aren't we?" he asked of his other self, already sure of the answer.

"You know that already. We need to talk." his other self said, speaking with his voice, but it was strained with impatience and anger foreign to him normally.

"Who... are you?" asked Hagan.

"Hmm... The best way to say this is that I am you. More accurately, I am the rage you felt all those years ago at the death of your parents, at your imprisonment. I am what you could not face. In a sense, you and the assassins created me so you could be free of the madness that took you after your abuse. You made me out of your worst parts, so what else could I be?" he said, an edge of accusation in his voice.

Hagan took a step back. It was true that his other self had been present since his recovery from his madness.

"You are my madness." Hagan whispered before even thinking about it.

"That is one way to say it. You are not wrong. The thing is though, I'm actually a separate identity from you now. I am not your madness anymore, but I am the other you, full of the rage you no longer feel... and a need for revenge on everyone!" the other Hagan shouted and charged at Hagan.

The other him attacked furiously, swiping at his head with his hands. Hagan defended himself, but could find no opening in the fury-driven attacks. He fell back before the rapid strikes, slowly losing ground.

"Why must we fight!? Are we not the same?" Hagan shouted at his other self.

He then struck hard at a small opening his other self had left by over-extending a swing. He struck his other half hard, sending him flying back.

"We don't need to do this! We should figure something out! We both suffered!" Hagan shouted, and his voice echoed through the emptiness of their surroundings.

"You made me to hold that suffering away from you! I suffered long after you! I had to endure what you could not! You know nothing of suffering!" his other self shouted and jumped up. Hagan knew an attack was coming, and he readied himself for it.

Devil threw bolts of flame down on Hagan, whom called water to his palms and deflected the fiery shots. Then, his other self dove down, driving his foot into Hagan's shoulder. At that moment though, Hagan tilted his shoulder and adjusted his weight so that his strike slid past his shoulder and left the other Hagan open. Hagan drove his fist into his other side's ribs, and he went flying back again, but he didn't get up. After a few moments, Hagan felt himself rise, and a feeling of wakefulness overcame him.

He sat up suddenly, and winced at the pain. He was again in the medical bay of the Mayship. He saw Johnny there, sitting next to his bed. As he gathered his thoughts, vague images ran through his head of is fight with Mors, and a few fleeting images of what his other side had done.

"So, what do I do with you?" Johnny asked simply, looking right at him.

"I... I don't know. I could just leave, if you want." Hagan said.

He was numb inside at the moment, and he expected nothing good.

"You could, but wouldn't you be in a lot of trouble on your own out there? The assassins are after you, and you got that... that other problem as well. I don't think you'd make it." he said.

"What's your point?" asked Hagan, a bit annoyed at this review of the obvious.

"Well, you did save Alyssa twice, you came clean to May, and you fought an assassin to protect my crew... I would say that you've earned a place on this ship for a time. Even with your... personality issue, we can help you out, if you want." Johnny said and stood up.

"Well, I'll be around. Find me when you've decided." he said and left, leaving Hagan alone with his thoughts.

"Personality issue, indeed." he commented dryly to no one in particular.

He was still trying to come to terms with what had happened in his own head, What his other self had said made sense, but at the same time, not all of it fit. This other half had only just gained this ferocious anger and fire element. When it had taken him before, it wasn't like that last time. There was not near-mindless rage and power, but simply a refocusing of his will. It seemed that something had changed, that something had awoken it fully. As he milled about the room, thinking, it hit him.

"This is all because of that girl!" he breathed.

It all made sense. His new moral awakening and desire for peace went against his other side. Before, they hadn't been that different, and they could cooperate, but now... He sighed loudly and sat down again. His morals were destroying the fragile integrity of his mind. His other side couldn't accept the letting go of the anger and killing urge and had 'retained' it, even has he had discarded it.

His thoughts were interrupted by his door opening. Standing there was Alyssa, with a very unsure look on her face. She entered, but he could see just a bit of fear in her eyes. That fear in her face tore at him, because he knew she feared him and she had seen his other side. She had seen the worst in him. He didn't know what to say. She started for him.

"Who are you?" she asked simply.

"I am who I said I was before. I never lied to you, I just couldn't tell you my affiliations. I am Hagan Ko Lu, a wandering cook, without a home and living by my skill alone." he said. She gave a small grin, but uncertainty came back quickly.

"What... what was that? What I saw..." she said, her fear visible.

"That was... You see, a long time ago, I was in a simple city, the son of a cook. I was a mischievous kid, and I liked to get into trouble. I had a younger sister, whom was dear to me. I always protected her... Well, one day I was at home with my family when Gears attacked. Everyone was killed in my area. My parents were ripped to shreds and my sister was slain while she looked at me. I was hiding in the dish cabinet under our table, and she was running to hide with me when they came in and grabbed her. Had she cried out to me or said anything, she would have given me away. She stayed quiet, even as they killed her. We were saved by a mysterious figure wrapped in a brown cloak... but it was too late." he said ans sighed, stopping for a moment to collect his thoughts.

"For a time after that, I lived with my aunt and uncle, but something was wrong with me. I would see flashbacks of that time. One day, the gears were back, and I killed them with a knife... only to realize that I had just killed my guardians. I was arrested and thrown in prison as a vicious murderer. I was mad and enraged, consumed by the gears. I remember parts of what happened in there, but It need not be said. It was then that the assassins found me and fixed me, so to speak. My mind fractured when they fixed it. Until recently, the fracture wasn't so bad, but since I've become... moral... the fracture has grown. It is the me you 're talking to, the one whom wishes to change his ways; and the other me, consumed by rage and hate in my head now. It is a bit strange, but it is the whole truth." he said and sighed deeply.

He'd never said the whole thing out loud before, to anyone, It felt good. Alyssa was looking at him with tears in her eyes.

"I... I don't know what to say. That wasn't what I was expecting. I was thinking you had an anger issue or that you were just acting, but this... this is almost too strange to be real." she said and sat down next to him.

The closeness was reassuring, as it was a clear sign that he was not rejected. A silence lingered around them, and it gnawed at Hagan, so he began to talk.

"I was an assassin for five years, before all of this happened. I never enjoyed my work, but I never felt real guilt about it either. At that time, it seemed that even my murderous work wasn't all that bad, with the world being in a terrible state. To me, it seemed to make no difference at all." he stopped and cleared his throat.

Alyssa was looking at him intently, listening to his every word. It occurred to him that this was his confession; that he was being allowed to unburden himself after all this time.

"I was trained by Zato-1, the 'God of Assassins' himself, and was a top rookie assassin, even after Zato's fall. Then... then I was changed by a girl, little older than you are. She was being attacked by a man... such a simple, terrible thing. Despite everything, I saved her. I don't know what motivated me at that moment, but I saved her. The man's friends came looking for the two of them, hoping to use the girl themselves, but I was there to meet them. During the fight, one of the men took the girl hostage and tried to escape. I... I lost control of my killing personality and slew her to kill the man... I never even learned her name... yet I killed her... It was after that event that I found myself beset by guilt over all that I had done. She, as her parting curse to me, gave me guilt." he said and covered his face with his hands.

Even now, the guilt burned through him, belittling all he had done to make amends for his actions.

Alyssa's hand suddenly came to rest on his shoulder, surprising him.

"You call it a curse, this guilt, but I think that's wrong! Its a gift! If not for your guilt and compassion, would you be changing as you are now? Where would I be, for that matter, if not for you and your morality? You can't think of it as a curse, if you really want to change for the better. Don't you see?" Alyssa implored him with her words not to turn away from it.

Hagan looked at her, first with surprise, then with growing admiration.

"You may be young, but you are wise. You are right; to call this a curse from her is disrespecting her and this all too important change within me." Hagan said and chuckled to himself, letting all of his cares evaporate in that laugh.

"I'm not that young, you know! I'm sixteen and a half! I may as well be an adult!" Alyssa complained at him loudly, the hand resting on his shoulder suddenly clenching his gi.

"I'm twenty one, and if you're an adult, I'm an old man." Hagan said, teasing her suddenly.

Alyssa laughed at him and said "Twenty one! You may as well retire now, you're so old!"

They both laughed, and Hagan wondered at the feeling of freedom that had come to him in that moment. He felt so free, so... full of life that he wanted to run and shout about it. The thought was strange to him, but it was there.

"Hey Alyssa, why don't you show me around the ship some? I haven't seen too much of it yet." he asked her, wanting to go about and wander.

"I would love to, but I have work to do around the ship. I was allowed to see you and got off of my cleaning shift, but I should get back to it soon. Dizzy could show you about, and she was meaning to talk to you anyway, or so she told me." Alyssa said.

Hagan flashed back to when he had first met Dizzy. She hadn't wanted to talk then, so what had changed?

"Where is she?" was all he said.

"She should be on the aft deck, mid-level. If not, just ask around." Alyssa said and got up slowly.

She turned to leave, but then she stopped and turned to face him again. She looked at Hagan uncertainly, then she smiled and hugged him softly, and then left.

Hagan was left in wonderment. She had hugged him and he couldn't figure out what that meant. Sure, they were becoming fast friends, and they had just shared a lot, but he was thrown off by it. He slowly got up, shook it off, and left the room. He was bit nervous about meeting her again, so he wandered a little first. He wandered the halls of the ship for a few minutes, listening to chatter of the girls in the crew and taking in the sights of the ship, before heading to his destination. He again was reminded just why he had decided to change, wandering the lively halls. He reached the corridor to the deck smiling.

He walked through the corridor to the deck, and paused by the door. He collected his thoughts, and opened the door. He wanted to do this right this time. He wanted to win Dizzy over and make a friend of her. He swallowed a momentary rush of fear when he thought of her being a Gear, but he pushed that away. He again remembered her being afraid of him, and walked out into the sunlight.

He saw Dizzy leaning against the rails of the deck. I was a semicircle about twenty feet long and fifteen feet wide, exposed to the outside, but somehow shielded from the fierce winds that Hagan knew should have been whipping at him by now. He walked towards her, his feet clanking on the metal decking. He was nervous. Dizzy turned then, perhaps hearing his footfalls,and faced him. He could see nervousness clearly written on her face, and he relaxed, knowing that she was as nervous as he in this.

"Alyssa told me that wanted to talk to me?" Hagan asked of her.

She frowned, and then said "Well... yeah, I did. Its... its about your personality problem... I would like to help you. I... I have a similar problem. I have another... personality that desires only to protect me. It emerges when I'm in danger, and it uses all of my power to 'protect' me, but... it ends up only hurting people I would never want to harm."

Hagan was unsure what to say. This was not how he'd expected this to turn out at all.

He blurted out "How do you deal with it?"

Dizzy looked at him, then looked out to the bright blue sky. She seemed to be in deep thought, and Hagan didn't wish to disturb her, so he too looked out into the bright blue. The clouds drifted by their ship slowly, as if they strolled by, worry free and direction-less.

"I think hard about the people I care about. I use the knowledge that if I lose control, I might hurt them to fight it off. It doesn't always work... but its my bastion." she said, still looking out at the sky.

Hagan thought carefully about her words. He rolled them around in his head. They made sense to him. The thought of this 'Devil' hurting Alyssa angered him and steeled his resolve more than anything else could have ever done. His mind raced, and he went back to the slain girl, slain by his hands. He pictured Alyssa there, a chopstick in her throat, himself standing over her, and his fist shook. Dizzy was right. The desire to protect Alyssa from himself was very strong.

"Dizzy, thanks." was all Hagan needed to say.

Dizzy looked at him and smiled. The smile was genuine, and her face showed none of the fear that he had seen on it earlier.

"You scared me at first. I didn't know what to think of you. Then you said you were an assassin, and I was even more scared. Then, I saw you struggle to break free of that other you, and I wasn't scared of you anymore. I saw that you were a kind person fighting not to hurt someone you cared about. I knew what you were going through, and I wanted to help." Dizzy said and looked into his eyes.

"I can also see that you care about Alyssa, and she cares about you. Please be careful with her. She may not look it, but she's fragile. She's gone through a lot in her life, and her bonding with you is a good sign for her. I... I would just ask that you take good care of her." she said and turned back to the sky.

"How could I not? She is...she's a balm on my soul. She is my guiding light, I guess I should say. When I look for a reason to care about my actions, to fight against my murderous side, I see her face. When I think I'm going insane... her presence brings me to my senses again. I... she's the first one in a very long time to see me as something worthwhile as something more than a tool or a weapon. She... I don't know what I'm saying. I'm sorry." he said to Dizzy, and it was true.

His mind was running in circles trying to talk about her and how he felt. Dizzy smiled at him and gave a soft laugh.

"You're doing just fine... I understand." she said.

Hagan wondered at that comment, as he didn't really understand what it meant himself.

He looked to the sky, and for some reason, his mind went back to the terrible events in London. Dizzy was a Gear, after all. He thought about the Gears being active again. The Gears responded to Justice... Then, things began to click in his head.

"Dizzy... if the Gears are active again... then, is Justice also...?" he asked her.

Dizzy gave him an unreadable expression for a moment before responding. "I would guess so... but I always thought that if she escaped, she would come for me first... I don't know." she said, looking fearfully at the sky.

"I wouldn't worry about that too much. I'm here." said a familiar masculine voice.

Hagan turned to see Johnny walking up to them.

"I was coming to ask you if you wanted to remain for a while yet. We'll hide you and shelter you, and perhaps even fight for you. You must help us in exchange, of course. Helping around the ship, fighting for us, that kind of thing. Perhaps some cooking as well... I hear you're a cook. How about it?" he said, offering his hand.

Hagan didn't have to think about it. He clasped hands with Johnny and shook it.

"Yeah, I want to stay. I'll help you all as much as I possibly can in return. You're giving me a chance at another life here. I can't thank you enough." Hagan said, bowing deeply to Johnny.

"Well then! Its settled! For the time being, we have a new crew member! At some point, you and I will have to share a few drinks and stories. I should get to know my new crewman, I would say! For now, feel free to roam the ship and get acquainted with your new home." he said and walked back into the ship.

Hagan followed shortly after, saying goodbye to Dizzy on the way back in.

He wandered the halls for a while longer, taking in the sights and places. He introduced himself to several of the crew. While a few were nervous around him, most were cheerful and accepting, some going as far as to thank him for saving Alyssa. This was what he wanted, he thought as he walked down the corridor towards his room.. The feeling of acceptance and peace he had at that moment; it was what he had wanted all this time, but just hadn't known it until now. He found himself wondering how he could have missed it all, this simple happiness.

He reached the door to his room and entered. He sat on his bed and sighed. So much had happened over the last two weeks. His life had changed dramatically, and for the better. Things were coming together, falling into place or him. And there was Alyssa... He sighed again at that thought. He was somewhat hungry, but tiredness swept over him and he fell onto the bed. He fell quickly into a deep sleep.

Again, Hagan awoke in that featureless void that was somewhere in his mind. He was momentarily confused, but he quickly remembered what this was all about. He wandered for a few minutes, and grew annoyed.

"Where are you, my other self?" he shouted out into the blackness.

His voice echoed through the void, seeming to go on forever. Then, footsteps echoed through the darkness, and Hagan saw his other self walking forward, anger on his face. After a moment, Hagan realized that there was also a wariness on his face that hadn't been there before.

"You're a lot stronger than I thought you would be, you know. I thought that once you had begun this foolish path, you'd quickly crumble, but... you've found strength instead." Devil said, his voice rather calm for once.

"You're right. I've found great strength in this new way of life. I can oppose you, if need be... but I'd rather not. We can share in this warmth of human contact. We can both have good memories. I would share them with you." Hagan said, wanting to make peace in hi mind.

For a brief moment, Hagan could see his other self's features waver, the rage in his demeanor fading. Then, Devil shook his head and growled.

"You can keep that all to yourself. You may have found strength, but it is fleeting! When they turn against you, you will be all the weaker from your reliance on others! It will fall to me to save us from your trusting weaknesses!" his other side raged at him.

Hagan only sighed at his other side. If only he could make him see! The rage his other side kept close wasn't needed anymore. Hagan knew that they could trust these new friends.

"No, you're wrong. We suffered horribly at one time, and our life after wasn't all that much better, really. This is our chance to make a newer, better life for us! Can't you see that!?" Hagan shouted at him.

"The only time we will be safe is when we are powerful enough to slay anyone whom would get in our way! We don't need these friendships and love, we need power!" Devil yelled back and charged at him.

Hagan inhaled deeply and calmed himself. He stood still as his other self charged him, so full of rage he could barely control himself. Hagan felt pity for his other side, made in the crucible of suffering, but he wasn't going to let him win. Right as Devil was going to strike, Hagan pulled back and turned to the side, causing Devil to shoot past him. He turned to face Hagan again, but didn't attack.

"Look, this is pointless. Right now, I hold the advantage and control of our body. You should sit back and watch how I do with my new path. You should watch and see for yourself what trust can bring you. Please, let me do this!" Hagan almost begged of his other side.

"Ha! You would beg from me a favor! This is rich! I'll give it you, this favor you ask of me, but listen well! When I have to come out to fix what you've gotten us into... I won't relinquish my control... not ever! Just remember that..." Devil said ominously, and he faded away.

"Wait!" Hagan shouted after him, but Hagan could already feel the tug of wakefulness.

Hagan awoke in his room, breathing heavily. His encounter with his other half was still fresh in his mind, and he was a little troubled. He had talked bravely to Devil, but the truth was, he was still a bit afraid of all of this, and he knew it. He was placing himself in a very vulnerable position with the pirates. If they wanted, they could turn him over to the assassins easily enough. He stifled those thoughts with a shake of his head. Hagan knew he had to trust in others for his path to be valid at all.

He dressed and prepared for the day. He got his weapons ready and hidden, and he went through his morning training regimen, keeping his mind clear of thought, focusing on the now, feeling each moment as he was trained to do. This was one thing he didn't regret from all that he had done. The rigorous training that had made him fit and dangerous. He liked being strong and in touch with the potential within himself. He went through some basic Katas, feeling the moves he did and his muscles flow.

The words of Devil echoed in his head. 'We don't need friendships or love... we need power!' That's what he had said, and Hagan found himself partly agreeing. Power was needed to protect yourself and others, but having friendships and love didn't detract from that at all. In fact, he thought, power could come from these things. Having allies at your back in a fight, or friends to help you train... these things gave power as well. He performed a complex Kata involving a series of rapid strikes followed by a spin-kick, and ending by tumbling on the ground and throwing a chopstick. When he finished, he heard clapping from near his door. He looked to see a tall man in what appeared to be a modified Holy Knight's outfit. It had armor plates over the shoulders and chest, and a white cape draped from the shoulders. The man had brown hair cut very short, and was wearing glasses. He had a rather long blade strapped to his back. It was basically a five and half foot longsword.

"Who are you?" asked Hagan, his stiletto blades still out.

"I'm not an enemy! I'm a Sanctified Knight with the church. My name is Descartes, and I'm actually here to talk to Johnny, but he was busy. He recommended that I talk to you. He said some interesting things about you, you know." this man said, his voice was rather deep for is thin frame.

Hagan lowered his weapons, but didn't recap them. His mind raced. This was a high ranking Holy Knight in his room. There was the possibility that the pirates were turning him in. He sighed and shook his head. It was hard, getting used to trusting others. He wanted to, but old habits die hard. He put his weapons away and sat down at his small table. The other man sat across from him.

"So, you wanted to talk to me. I would imagine its about my previous affiliations?" Hagan said mildly.

"Well... yes, actually. I'll be honest with you... assassins are one of our most dangerous threats. Facing them is something we all dread, and letting one of them roam free makes me a bit uneasy; however, Johnny has vouched for you personally. That man is almost impossible to trick or fool, so I'll give you the benefit of the doubt." he said, giving him a hard look.

"Why thank you. That's just what I've always wanted." Hagan said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"I see I'm going about this the wrong way. I apologize for being hostile towards you. Its hard for me to accept the thought of a former assassin. I don't think I've ever heard of it happening before. Well... there is one other... but that's a different case altogether, The point is, I would like to get any information you can give me to fight the Syndicate. There, its out in the open." Descartes said and held his arms out for emphasis.

Hagan smirked at this man. He wanted to fight the Syndicate, did he? Anything he told him would be invalid at the first hint that the Knights had learned anything, the whole operation could move anywhere, at anytime, for any reason. H e could picture the Knights charging into a recently abandoned Syndicate house, only to lose half of their number to traps, and get nothing out of it. If the Knights tried to really go to war with the Syndicate, Hagan knew it would end terribly. The Syndicate would assassinate, poison, and deceive their way to victory over the law-bound Knights.

"Mr. Descartes, I can respect what you want to do, but I can't help you. It has nothing to do with loyalty, but more to do with what your people would end up doing with that information." Hagan said, staring intently at the man.

"What would we do with that information that would be so bad?" Descartes asked, meeting his stare.

"Simply put, you all would die. Your men can't fight the Syndicate. They haven't been trained in any of the arts that the Syndicate has mastered. Trickery, deceit, and traps; that's how they fight. They will not stand up and fight you blade to blade... they will send men to poison your family while they distract you. They will kill of your men, one by one, until none are left,and you'll have not seen even one of them the whole time. That is why I will not tell you." Hagan said, refusing to mince words with this man. He needed to know what he was getting into.

"I think you underestimate the Knights, my good man. We've been fighting the Syndicate for a long time now, you know. We've learned some of their tricks in that time." he said.

"The first time you counter one of their tricks, they abandon it and make a new one. Learning their tricks is meaningless. The first thing we were taught was to be unpredictable at all times." Hagan said, wishing he could make this man see the folly he was trying to bring.

The man looked at Hagan for a long moment. The silence stretched out between them. He cleared his throat and looked away.

"One would almost think that you were... protecting them, you know." Descartes said, letting a bit of steel into his voice.

Hagan almost growled at this infuriating man, but he swallowed his anger. In his place, Hagan knew he would be doing the same thing. This man wanted to do right, but he couldn't see past his Knight mindset.

"I left the Syndicate because I have come to find that murder is a terrible thing. The Syndicate has tried to kill me once already for leaving. Believe me when I say that I have no love for the Syndicate at all. If I could help you win this fight, by all that is, I would... but I know that they would be ready for this. In fact, they've probably already changed anything that I was involved in, just in case. Please, trust me on this." Hagan said, trying diplomacy and reason with the man.

Descartes gave him a strange look, and then laughed loudly. Hagan frowned, not getting the 'joke' that was so funny.

"You really are sincere in your change of heart! I never would have thought it. I think you are right, and I'm sorry to have said what I did about you protecting the Syndicate, but I had to know. Trust can be a difficult thing, you know." Descartes said.

"That much I am well aware of. As an assassin, trust only gets you killed faster. Relying on others, even your fellow assassins, was a fatal error. Paranoia was your only real friend, as it kept you alive. Trust is hard, but its worth it, I've found." Hagan said, looking at the tall man.

He nodded at his assessment and smiled. Something occurred to Hagan then. There was bigger concerns than the Syndicate for the Knights at the moment, with the Gears coming back to kill again. What were they doing bothering him, when an even greater foe was making its self known? They needed to get their priorities straight.

"Mr. Descartes, while the Syndicate is a threat, isn't there something even bigger looming over all of us? Why are you coming to me for Syndicate info when the Gears are killing again? Isn't your job to protect the people from what's killing them now?" Hagan asked, his earlier clam again going into cool anger.

"That is... that issue is what I needed to talk to Johnny about. Once I talk to him, I'll tell you all you want to know about that nightmare, you know. Speaking of that, I'll also want to speak to you about something else Johnny told me. He said you were in London when the attack happened. I'll want to hear about that as well, if you don't mind, that is." Descartes said as he turned to Hagan's door.

"Knock next time, please." was all Hagan said as Descartes turned to leave.

Descartes chuckled and then left, leaving Hagan somewhat confused.

Hagan left his room somewhat troubled. He didn't like where all of this was going. Something big was happening all around him, and he couldn't see what it was. First, there was the Gears reawakening, then the Holy Knights were talking to Johnny bout it. A rather high-ranking one at that. The Sanctified Knights were the top warriors of the Knights, created to fight the Gears in the war, and to deal with great dangers after it. He could feel it, that something big was coming, and coming fast.

He walked aimlessly down the corridors of the ship, turning his thoughts in his head, trying to make sense of it all. He just couldn't figure it out, no matter how he looked at it He didn't have enough information, he decided. He was going to have a long talk with this Descartes when he came back to see him. Hagan had to know just what exactly was going on in the world. It started to make his head hurt, thinking about it all. He looked up to find himself in front of the mess hall. The smell of food made his stomach growl in demand.

He walked into the hall, only to find it nearly empty, and the sounds of cooking echoing through the large room. He walked into the kitchen, letting the familiar sights and sounds calm him down. Pots boiling water with the steam rising. The smell of bread and pies baking, and the smells of meat cooking... these things took him back to long ago, when he was still with his parents. He smiled at the memory, the first time he had done so in a long time. He approached the cook, a rather robust woman, and watched her at work. He saw that she was rolling dough, and that there was a large pile of dough yet to be rolled, and that other things needed doing almost immediately.

"Do you need help in here?" he asked her.

She looked at him for a moment, confused, and then she smiled.

"You must be Hagan. Yeah, we could use the help." she said and went back to rolling. Hagan jumped into his favorite work of all, cooking. He cooked, rolled, and backed for over an hour, lost in the simple pleasure of cooking. His thoughts were no longer on the recent events, but focused on making yet another pie for the meal. He then went to preparing the beef for the main course. He worked with the cooks on what they were doing. They were good, but he had cooked under some of the best chefs in the world as part of his training. After another hour of work, they were done. The head cook approached him.

"You're really good at this! Johnny said I should get you to work in our kitchen, and now I see why. You want to work in our kitchen while you're on board?" she asked him.

Hagan knew the answer to that one immediately.

"Yes, I do. Cooking is one of my favorite things, and you all look like you could use some extra hands around here." He said, smiling at the thought.

"Well then, welcome to the team! Girls, this is Hagan. He'll be joining our cooking team here," she said.

Hagan introduced himself to their cooking girls and chatted, but he was starving at this point, so he grabbed some food and went into the mess hall. Now that it was near mealtime, there were a lot more people in the hall, but he found a seat at a lone table. He preferred to be alone while he ate normally, but he found himself wishing for company this time. He sighed and shrugged, and began to eat. On his third bite, two people sat at his table. One was Alyssa, and he smiled at seeing her. The other was May, and Hagan's smile faded slightly at seeing her.

"Hagan, you don't mind if we sit here, do you?" Alyssa asked him.

"Of course not. Please go ahead." he said, not minding May so much if Alyssa was here.

"Umm... this food is better than usual. I wonder why?" May said somewhat uncomfortably.

Hagan realized that May was now uncomfortable around him. He was pretty sure that it was because of how she had acted when he'd first talked to her, but he wasn't going to press it. To him, how she had acted had been troublesome, but he fully understood why she had acted that way. The desire to protect those you cared about was a strong thing, as he knew now.

"I helped in the kitchen for a couple of hours, and I showed them some of my best tricks for cooking this sort of thing. I'm glad that it helped." he said, hoping to get her to warm up.

He knew he didn't need enemies on this ship, especially not May . May looked at him, surprised. Alyssa took a bit of the meat and slowly chewed it, seeming to savor it.

"You're right, this is really good. You've got talent, Hagan" Alyssa said, chewing on another bite all the while.

"I've decided that while I'm on this ship, I'll be cooking for you all. I can repay you all for taking me in a little bit with this, I hope." Hagan said.

"Hagan... Umm... I'm sorry for how I acted when you first talked to me. I was a jerk and it was unnecessary. Also, thanks for protecting Alyssa here so many times now. She's told me some things about you... not too much, but enough. I wanna welcome you to the Mayship." she said, looking down at her food by the end of it.

Hagan smiled at Alyssa whom winked at him. He was now in a rather good mood. First, he got to cook, his passion. Now, Alyssa was here and May was welcoming him. It seemed like the kinks were working themselves out over time.

"Apology accepted, and put it from your mind. It was all rather sudden and not well thought out. I'm just glad I was there to stop Mors... What happened to him anyway. I had forgotten about that." Hagan asked, suddenly rather curious.

"We stopped by a Holy Knight base last night and dropped him off there. They can deal with him better than us. We also picked up one of their people." May said, and Hagan sighed.

"I know. His name is Descartes, right? We've met." was all he said abut that.

"I... don't like that guy, to be honest. He was sent by the church to meet with Johnny, but I don't like him at all." May said, a frown on her face.

"I haven't met the guy, but people don't seem to like him very much. He sounds creepy." Alyssa said, looking around fretfully, as if expecting him to be right behind her.

"So... what is this all about, anyways? Why is the church talking with Johnny? I thought he was thought of as a criminal." Hagan asked, puzzled by the seeming inconsistency.

"Well, Johnny has done a lot for people in need, and the church too, so even though his methods don't quite meet their approval, they would be hard pressed to justify actually taking him down. He's quite the hero, you see. He also has an... understanding with the Knights' leader, and that helps a lot." May said.

Alyssa turned to look at May and said "But what do they want to talk to Johnny about? I haven't heard a thing! This is so unfair! Why won't he tell us what's going on?" She had taken on a pouting face and voice.

"He'll tell us when he's done, I'm sure of it. He doesn't keep secrets very well. ...If I had to guess though, I would say that they are asking Johnny for help of some kind. Probably something to do with the Gears and all..." May said, looking a bit depressed after remembering the events of the recent past.

The three ate in silence after that. The thought of the Gears returning cast a grim aura around them, and each was lost in thought about the future. They finished their food quickly, but lingered in their seats, still in thought. Hagan could make no more sense of it all, but he knew one thing: he had a very bad feeling about what was to come.

After saying goodbye to May, Hagan and Alyssa walked from the mess hall into the ship's corridors. The ship was noisy from all of the people in the mess hall, so they departed, not knowing where they went from there. They walked for a couple of minutes in silence, each thinking about different things. Hagan's thoughts had changed rather abruptly from the Gears and coming doom to this girl with him. She had some kind of power, that allowed her to calm him, to make him happy... and he wanted to let her know that.

He knew he cared for her and wanted to protect her, but this was more than that in some important way. He had protected people before, and this was... well, a lot more than that. He was doing this of his own free will, without pay or reason beyond the desire to see her safe at all times. He needed, he realized, to talk to her about this, to let her know about this. It did, after all, involve her greatly... and she deserved a choice in this.

"Alyssa, would you accompany me to the rear deck? I want to talk to you about something that's been on my mind for a long while now. Would you mind?" he asked her, his heart rate picking up slightly for some reason.

"Sure. What's this about? Nothing bad, I hope." she said and smiled at him.

They walked towards the rear deck, Hagan deep in thought over what to say, and Alyssa walking happily with him. They reached the door, and Hagan paused. He found himself... nervous about this. He took a deep breath and cleared his throat, unsure how to deal with this sudden feeling. He shrugged then, and pushed the door open. Whatever happens, happens, he decided with that shrug.

They walked out onto the deck, the very same one he'd talked to Dizzy on. He seemed to have good luck out here, and the view made him think more clearly, or so he thought. He started to put his thoughts together, but he was interrupted by Alyssa.

"So, what'd you want to talk about? Is it serious?" she asked him, leaning against the railing and giving him a curious look.

With her silvery-white hair whipping in the strong, yet gentle wind that flowed around them, Hagan couldn't help but stare at her for a long moment before he could put his thoughts back into place. He was nervous and he was distracted, and he jumbled his thoughts.

"I... um... well... Let me start again... I wanted to tell you something important. I... wanted to thank you for everything that you've done for me." he said and sighed at himself right after. He had meant to say more, but stopped himself.

Alyssa blinked in surprise, and looked at him for a moment before replying. Several emotions played across her face, too quick for Hagan to read. She sighed.

"You really don't need to thank me. You saved my life, and that means a lot. You saved me with no reason to, other than to save someone in need... but... its more than that now. You told me your story, your secrets, and you trusted me with them... that must have been hard to do." She looked right at him. "After all thats happened, I want to help you. I've come to know you, and I've come to know that I can help you, or so I hope. I want to keep on helping you, if I can." she said, blushing by the end of it.

Hagan slowly digested her words, taking in their meaning. A smile crossed his face, and he approached her. She looked at him, with a mix of emotions on her face. He stopped just inches in front of her, looking down at her. She looked up at him, suddenly smiling.

"I would still thank you. Even in saving you, you helped me. You affirmed my decision with your kindness, and you helped me when I was injured. You did, in fact, save my life as well. Since then, you've helped me more then you've needed to. I'm not complaining, but you've done more for me than anyone else since I came out of the prison. I... would like to keep protecting you, for as long as I can. You've given me purpose in my new life, and saved me from my old one. Is that alright with you? That's what I wanted to ask you before..." he said, and rested his right hand on her shoulder.

She looked at his hand, and then placed her left on top of his, softly holding it.

"I want to help you get better, so I'll need you near me, right? You've saved me before, and... I trust you. Thats a hard thing for me to do. Not so hard with you, though." Alyssa said, holding his hand a little bit tighter.

"I know what you mean by that. Trusting people hasn't been a part of my life in a very long time... before I met you. That other side of me, Devil, fears that you will betray me... but I don't believe that at all. I trust you too. Yes... it is hard, but not so hard with you." he said, inching closer to her.

She then leaned in and pressed herself against him. Hagan's arm draped around her shoulders, and she leaned her head in his chest. Hagan's nervousness has all but vanished in those last few moments. Her nearness and her words made him drop his defenses and open himself to his true thoughts. He held her a little tighter, and she responded by wrapping her arms around him tightly.

"Hagan..." she said, her breath heavy and her expression passionate..

She looked up at him, their eyes met for a moment, and she tilted her face up to his, and his lips came down to hers. Their eyes closed and their lips met. Hagan's mind was blank, lost in the moment entirely. He shivered slightly from the kiss, soft as it was. He could feel her breathing heavily though her nose. She clasped him even tighter, and her kiss took a bit more urgency. Hagan held her close as they kissed. They then heard the door to the deck open, and a quiet feminine gasp. Hagan broke the kiss and turned to see Dizzy standing there, looking at them with an unreadable expression. Alyssa slowly pulled herself from Hagan's arms, and turned to look at Dizzy. Alyssa was blushing, but she looked happy.

No said anything for almost a full minute, each looking at the other, all trying to figure out just what the meaning of what had just happened was. Dizzy was the one to break the silence.

"I'm... I'm sorry to have interrupted... but Johnny just finished talking to Descartes, and he needed to talk to you. Hagan, about something that they had discussed." Dizzy said, embarrassment clearly in her voice and face.

"Oh... uh... yeah... I'll go there in a minute." he said to Dizzy, then he looked back at Alyssa, whom was still blushing, but looking less bashful, and said "I... really like you... Alyssa. That has little to do with you helping me, and a lot more to do with who you are... remember that. I'll see you later."

He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, and turned to leave with Dizzy. He heard her sigh, start to say something, then stop. He had walked up to Dizzy before she said what she was trying to say.

"Hagan... I like you too... a lot. Please come see me soon." she said, emotion in her voice.

Hagan suddenly wanted to go back to her, but he knew he should go with Dizzy and give her some time to sort out what she wanted in her head. He was sure that, like him, she hadn't planed on it going that way... that far... both of them probably needed a little time first. He walked into the ship with Dizzy, waving behind him.

He walked with Dizzy for a couple of minutes, and they walked in silence. Hagan was a little nervous of what she might say to him once given the chance. They walked before finally stopping in a stairwell, Dizzy meaning to talk to him about what she had seen.

"Hagan, what is your intentions with her?" she asked him directly. She wore an unreadable expression.

"I want to protect her and be there for her." he said immediately, looking right into her eyes. Her expression was guarded, and Hagan couldn't tell what she was thinking;

"That was more than just protecting her. That was a kiss of feeling, one that had a lot of intent and desire behind it. I could see that. Did you mean that? What you told her about liking her?" she asked him, meeting his gaze and staring him down.

She wasn't actually being hostile, but there was a protectiveness about her, a sort of motherly protectiveness of Alyssa. Hagan could tell from her voice that she was actually worried for Alyssa and her feelings.

"Dizzy. I would never lie to her or deceive her in any way. I meant every word of it. Those are my honest feelings for her. I decided to lay it out to her, and took her to the deck to talk to her about it. She accepted and even reciprocated my feelings. That kiss... wasn't planned, but it was... wonderful." he said, wondering at the dreamy tone of his own voice.

Dizzy blushed slightly and smiled at him. "I'm glad... She's been through so much. I just want to protect her from any more sadness. Shes had enough in her life. I don't want her heart to be broken as well..." she said, and Hagan was touched by her concern.

"I would never break her heart, Dizzy. Even if I lose control of myself and loose my evil side, I would never hurt her. I wouldn't allow it to happen. This, I swear to you. After all, it was you whom told me of the power of the desire to protect those you care about." Hagan said fiercely, his emotion in his voice.

"I'm so glad to hear that I helped you. We should get you to Johnny before he comes looking for you. We'd never find him then." she said and began walking up the stairs.

"Will you tell him about what you saw?" asked Hagan suddenly.

"I'll leave that to the two of you. As long as no one gets hurt and it doesn't becomes harmful to her, I'll keep what I saw to myself." she said to him, and he nodded.

They walked to Johnny's room, and Hagan couldn't help but feel a little tense walking these corridors again. The fight with Mors was still fresh in his memory. They walked up to his door and Dizzy knocked. They heard Johnny grunt, so Dizzy opened the door and waved Hagan in, wishing he knew what this was all about.

Hagan entered the room to see Johnny sitting at the center table in his room, leaning back in his chair and his bare feet kicked up onto the table. He had a shot glass in hand, and was swirling a translucent, light brown drink that Hagan was sure was brandy. Johnny looked up at him motioned for him to sit, which he did, unsure of what to do in this informal atmosphere.

"I hear you've joined up with the kitchen crew. Thanks for that, they need all the help they can get feeding us. The job suits you, I think." he said simply, though Hagan knew that this wasn't what he had wanted to discuss with him.

"Yeah, it does. Cooking is one of the few things I carry from my past that brings me pleasure. I thank you again for giving me this chance." he said to the man, thinking more of his growing relationship with Alyssa than about cooking at that moment.

"Its worked out for the best so far... just keep it up and you'll be just fine. I didn't ask you here to chat about cooking though, as you probably have guessed. I wanted to talk to you about our next mission and your role in it. Descartes has given me an urgent request from the Knights highest ranks. They ask us to go to Paris, which has just recently suffered a Gear attack, in what is proving to be an offensive from a network of well-organized Gears, seemingly led by Justice herself. Paris is in a bad state, and they need help evacuating children left homeless by the violence." Johnny said, and he gave a deep and sad sigh.

"Of course I'll help! I'll do whatever I can to help you all." Hagan said, appalled by the news he'd just been told.

"Well, I'm glad to hear that, but you should hear what I have in mind for you before you agree to anything rashly. I want you to protect our people as they find and evacuate children. The attack on Paris was worse than on London, and for a time, the defenses of the city broke, and the Gears infested it. Most have been cleared away, but there is a strong risk of encountering some there. I want you to help fight them if they show themselves. You still in?" Johnny asked him, looking right at him while swirling his liquor in one hand.

"I agreed to help your people fight if need be, didn't I? Well, I meant it when I agreed to join your crew. I will help you do this. Not because I agreed to to it though, but because someone needs to. I've often thought of the world as unjust, and it is, but I've learned something already by being here: Justice comes from strong people protecting the weak. We must make justice come to the world... it won't come on its own." Hagan said, looking at Johnny.

Johnny gave Hagan a grin and sat his glass down. He got up and pured Hagan a shot of what appeared to be very, very old brandy in a thick, clear decanter. He slid it across the table to Hagan, who caught it and raised the glass.

"Well said, Hagan, well said. A toast, then, my new crew mate! A toast to true justice, not that Gear, but the ideal that the word represents. And to the people who fight for it." Johnny said to him and clinked his glass with Hagan's own.

They downed their shots, both giving a slight sigh as the warm liquid slid down their throats. Hagan looked into his empty glass, and watched the trace amounts of brandy run down the sides of it. Johnny took their glasses and poured them another shot. He slid the glass to Hagan, who again took it. He copied Johnny and swirled the liquid in his glass, watching it flow.

"There's something else I've wanted to talk to you about, Hagan. Its about Alyssa, and what you intentions are with her. I'm not accusing you of anything or warning you off, I just want to know as your captain. Feel free to talk to me openly, as one man to another. As much as I am your captain, I would also like to be your friend here." Johnny said and then took his shot, closing his eyes and savoring the sensation.

Hagan took his shot quickly, trying to prepare for what he should tell him. The gentle burn of the brandy felt good in his throat, and he relaxed as it coursed through him. He leaned back in his chair and breathed deeply.

"I really care for her. She's close to my heart, and I think of her fondly. I talked with her about this shortly before Dizzy came to get me. We... we agreed that we, well... that we both felt this way about one another. We talked about it, and we ended up... well, kissing." Hagan said, subconsciously closing his eyes for a moment and running a single finger over his lips, remembering the kiss well.

Johnny gave him a somewhat surprised look, and then grinned. "So, you two have already begun to date, without even asking your captain first. That's alright. I understand the rush a woman can give a man, where he acts with his heart first." Johnny said, teasing him. Hagan went to say something, but Johnny raised his hand to stop him. "Let me say what I want first. I care about each of the girls on this ship, each and every one. I've saved them all from some trouble or another, and worked hard to give each of them a good and meaningful life. Alyssa is no exception to this. She had a hard time in her past, as an orphan and a gang member before I saved her from the streets. I'm glad that she's finally bonded with someone strongly, but I ask you, as a man to a man, to be careful with her. She may be full of life, but she's very vulnerable, and she could break if enough sorrow happens to her again. Are you going to care for her?" he asked of him, giving him a serious look.

"I'd never do anything less for her. I said that I cared for her, and that was no lie. I think that if her heart broke, I would crumble with her. That's saying a lot, but I mean every word of it. I don't have much of anything left in my life beyond what I've gained here, with you all, and with her. All of this, and her most of all, mean too much for me to ever throw it away for anything. I... will protect her, no matter what it does to me." he said, looking right at Johnny, hoping to let him feel just how serious he was about this.

Johnny gave him an approving look and got up. He refilled their glasses again, and slid one to Hagan. Johnny sat down again and kicked his legs up on the table. He raised his glass to the light on the ceiling of the room and looked through it. Hagan sniffed the glass, the smell making his nose tingle. They both took their shots, and this one seemed to race right to Hagan's brain, and he felt light-headed. He found himself thinking about Alyssa again. He suddenly wanted to see her and be with her. He smiled at the thought. Then, Johnny snapped him out of his thoughts.

"We're gonna be in Paris late tomorrow night. We'll do our work under the cover of darkness, as we hope to not be seen by hostile forces. It probably won't work, but we have to try, don't we? Whatever you do down there, don't let your guard down for an instant. This is very dangerous, and I don't want anyone to get injured. You got that?" he said and sighed, holding a hand to his forehead. "Well... I need to get some rest before all of this, or I'll regret it in the morning. You should get some rest too." Johnny said and got up. Hagan dis so as well, and left the room, his head light.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three: The Resolution of the Heart**

Hagan walked through the ship, feeling suddenly rather drunk. He really wanted to lie down and sleep. He wandered until he found his room and stumbled through the door. He climbed into his bed and fell into a deep sleep. This night, his sleep was untroubled by his other side, and he slept in a deep sleep, dreaming of happy times that could come to be. When he awoke, he felt refreshed, as he hadn't in a long time. It was a good feeling, to wake up and know that good things were happening in his life again. He got out of bed and stretched out. He then used the shower in his room and cleaned himself. He then dressed and prepared for the day. He went through his usual training ritual, focusing his mind for the trials he knew were to come.

For once, Alyssa wasn't on his mind, but the idea of fighting Gears claimed that position. Hagan had killed a few in his life, but there were only a couple, and he'd had the advantage in those situations. He knew that they were superior to humans physically and that they had many unusual forms and tricks to call on. He wasn't afraid, but he was worried. This wasn't an assassination or infiltration mission, but a protection job. He wasn't as good at that line of work. He was trained to kill and live through it, not to save others from death. He then changed his training routine some, trying to include protection into his usual moves. It was trying work, but refused to give up on it. He worked at it for a while, until he felt that he could do no more productively at that time, and he relaxed and cooled down.

Afterwards, he walked up to his door to leave, but he noticed that a note had been slid under his door. He picked it up and unfolded it. It was written by Alyssa. Hagan unfolded it and smiled. She wrote in the note that Johnny had briefed the crew that morning on their mission, and that Johnny had talked to her afterwards about his assignment. She ended the note by asking him to meet her on the rear deck at lunchtime. He folded the note back up and put it in a pocket and grinned.

He then realized that it was just about lunchtime already, and that he had overslept by a few hours. Forgetting lunch, he made his way through the ship towards the rear deck, unwilling to miss seeing her for anything. He finally reached the door to the rear deck and looked out the window on the door, and seeing Alyssa leaning over the rails, looking towards the sky, he opened the door.

Alyssa was looking out into the endless sky when he walked out there. He immediately walked over to her and stood next to her. Alyssa looked at him, her face melancholy for some reason. They hugged each other tightly, and briefly kissed.

"Oh, Hagan... I'm glad to see you. Have a seat here with me." she said and pulled a blanked out of a sack she was carrying on her back. She then proceeded to pull various food items out, including crackers, a dish of salted hams, and other assorted things. Hagan suddenly understood and smiled at her. They both sat down and Alyssa leaned against Hagan as they sat and began to eat.

"What is this then, a picnic? What made you think of this?" he asked, after chewing on a piece of salted ham.

"Well, it wasn't just my idea. Some of the girls from the kitchen also wanted to thank you for helping them yesterday. I went there to figure out something to do for you, and one of then came up with this idea. They helped me prepare it and all. Apparently some of the things you showed them were really helpful, and they're grateful." she said, swallowing a a peanut butter cracker right afterwards.

"I'll have to thank them later. I'd like to thank you for this. I overslept and forgot to grab food before coming here. I'm quite famished actually, and this food looks good. Good company to share food with helps too." he said, looking at her.

She smiled at him, but then her face took on that melancholy expression again, and it was obvious that something was on her mind. Hagan looked at her quizzically.

"Hagan... Johnny talked to me this morning. He told me you two had a good talk and shared some drinks. He told me that you'd told him about us. I'm glad you did that... but he also told me of what he asked you to do. Are you sure that you want to go back to fighting and killing? You don't have to say yes to this if you really don't want to. I'm serious." she said and took his right hand into her hands.

Hagan responded by giving her a quick kiss on her lips. He kissed her again, longer this time, embracing her as he did so. They kissed for a minute before Hagan slowly pulled himself from her lips. He smiled at her.

"You're the best, Alyssa. I really appreciate that, I want you to now that, but I must do this. I swore to protect you to Dizzy, Johnny, and to you personally. What good would all that talk be if I just hid in the ship while you and your crew mates risked their lives to help others in need? No, I want to do this. I am a fighter and a cook. I am good at both, and I should use both talents for the benefit of all, shouldn't I? If my fighting can make others like you not have to suffer... then that is all I need as a reason to fight." Hagan said, looking deep into her emerald green eyes.

They continued to eat for several minutes, enjoying both the food and the outdoors. The silence was calm, and it allowed them to think as they ate.

Alyssa finished chewing on a slice of bread, and then said "Do you have plans for the future, Hagan? I was thinking about that last night. I have no idea what you intend to do in the future. Seeing that I have a vested interest in keeping you around, I decided that I should know what you plan on doing."

Hagan thought as he finished chewing on another slice of salted ham. He hadn't really given it any thought at all. He had been so focused on the events of the here and now surrounding him that thoughts of the future hadn't come to him at all. He ate another piece of ham as he thought it over. He realized the simple answer as he swallowed the meat.

"I guess my plans weren't thought out past getting here. All of the rest of these events have been entirely unplanned. I've planned a bit further I last couple of days, but that's gotten no further than protect and stay with you. What I'm saying is that I have no plans." he said and drank some water from their canteen.

"You could stay here for a while. Johnny seems to like you pretty well, and you get along with May and Dizzy. None of the crew seem to mind you at all... I would say that you've got a good place here. I really want you to stay as well. I like you, and I think I would cry if you left... I'm sorry, I don't have the right to impose things on you like that... its just that... I thought about it last night, that you could leave here at any time. I didn't like the thought very much." she said and leaned against him again.

Hagan wrapped his arm around her. "I wouldn't think of leaving now. Not with you here, in need of protection. Not with these people here and the good I can do here. I guess I want to try to make amends for what Ive done until now with my life... and being here, with you, seems to be the best way to do that. Also, I have the beginnings of a new life here, and that's hard to come by. I don't know where that will take me, or us, but I'll not leave you." he said, and they kissed again.

She smiled at him, and he sighed happily. He felt content, even with the danger looming ahead. Somehow, he knew that he would make it, and that she would be waiting for him. They laid down, still embracing, and enjoyed the wind. He had almost drifted off to sleep with her in his arms when he felt something... odd... dangerous.

He gently stood up, waking her in the process. She mumbled something, but he kept scanning the horizon, looking for the source of his feeling. He felt it again, a tingle up his spine, the hairs on the back of his neck rising. Alyssa looked at the expression on his face and began to look worried. Hagan could feel it clearly now, this fight or flight urge... like a predator was nearby, setting its sights on him. He drew his weapons and stood in front of Alyssa.

"Go inside! Something bad is coming... very bad! I need you to go inside and get help... Go!" he told her urgently. He just wanted her out of harm's way, whatever was coming.

She looked at him fearfully, but then she nodded and stood up. She gave him a quick kiss and ran inside. Hagan waited for a about thirty seconds, and then issued his challenge.

"Whomever you are, show yourself. I protect this ship and its crew, and you'll have to go through me to get to them." he said and walked towards the railing.

For a moment, nothing happened, and Hagan almost relaxed... but then a large figure floated up from below, coming to rest level with him. It was a creature over eight feet tall with a machine-like, or very heavily armored body. It had a white color to the encasing its whole body, with blue underscoring on parts. It had a human shaped metallic head with bright red hair running down the back of it. A long, metallic tail twitched behind it absently. Hagan gasped when he saw this thing, because he knew what it... her, was.

He had heard about her several times in the Syndicate. She had been sealed away due to the actions of Sol Badguy and Ky Kiske in a great battle. It was said that she was the most powerful Gear ever created, and that her power could destroy cities at a time. She even slew Kliff, the greatest Holy Knight in history. Hagan took a step back from her. He felt panic begin to rise, and he was hard-pressed not to run at that point. He then thought of Alyssa and steeled himself. She would get help... he just had to hold out until then. He had to trust her.

"You speak brave words, human, but I am not a force you can stop. Stand aside, and I may yet let you live." she said. Her voice, with its metallic clarity, rang out over the winds whipping around Hagan.

Hagan took a step forward. "What are you doing here, Justice? You are not welcome here." Hagan said.

"I see you do have spirit. I am here for Dizzy, if you wish to know. That look in your eyes... perhaps you would wish to fight me? I can indulge your base desire for conflict, if you wish. It is what we were designed for, after all. I will end your life when our dance is concluded." she said, no tone to her voice, yet it was full of menace.

Hagan threw a chopstick at her, but it shattered on her armor. She laughed and just floated there, as if to mock him. He held out another one between his index and middle finger. He focused his element into it, and it froze over with a thick layer of ice, ending in a sharp point. He hurled it at her and then hurled three more in rapid succession. Justice's tail seemed to barely move, but all four of the icicles he'd thrown with perfect accuracy were shattered by quick movements from it. Hagan swore loudly.

"As I said, human, you cannot prevail. I was made to be the apex of all killing machines, and my power is nearly limitless. Stand down or die." she said to him slowly advancing on him, floating in the air.

Hagan took a step back, unsure of what to do. Fear and desperation set in. He took another step back, contemplating running inside, but an all too familiar voice in his head admonished him.

"What are you doing!? You cannot run from her! She will only kill you with your back turned! I refuse to die that way!" the voice of his other self rang in his head.

Hagan was confused by this, but he knew the voice was right. There was no running from Justice. He'd placed himself between all danger and Alyssa... and all danger included Justice herself if it had to. He took a step forward, stopping his retreat.

He then leaped into the air, jumping higher than Justice floated by about a foot. He then hooked his thin chains at his waist to the combat chopsticks he wielded in a single swift motion. He flung both of them, pushing them with the power of the water element that he was tied to. They flew towards Justice leaving contrails of water vapor in the air as they sought their target. They began to wrap around Justice, spiraling around her to entwine her in the chains. As they finished and went to impale her for the finale, she flexed her body, and the chains snapped. His chopsticks lost their power and went flying against the door.

Hagan was stunned. His attack was effortlessly defeated. He had no idea what to do to stop her. It was clear just how powerful she really was to him now. The pressure those chains exerted and were capable of handling when charged with his power was substantial, and she broke it without effort.

"You see now, human, the futility of your struggles. You are but a momentary blink in the whole of the cosmos, and no one will mourn you in the future." Justice proclaimed, and Hagan was truly afraid.

Then, the voice in his head, his other side, spoke to him again. "I won't let us die here... not like this! Use my power as well! Don't ask questions, you fool, just fight her!" it said to him.

Hagan felt power flow through him, and a strange feeling overtook him. It was like there was a rage deep inside of him, one that wouldn't stop no matter what he did. It almost felt like it burned, it was so powerful and concentrated. He knew then that this was the source of the fire element that Devil used. He felt that fire element as well as his water element, and it was a strange feeling. He could feel them entwining within himself, becoming stronger.

He threw another chopstick at Justice, giving a cry of desperation, but this attack was different. He empowered it with his new strength, which seemed to stem form his very soul. It was something that he had never felt before. It felt... strong and alive somehow, this new power. The chopstick began to glow with a flickering light. Justice raised her hand and and a field formed, and the chopstick collided with the barrier, making a bright flash and a bang. Hagan threw four more these, only to have each one blocked. He was running low on ammunition.

"How surprising! A chi user! I didn't detect that from you earlier. You're more dangerous that I thought. I'll have to eliminate you before I leave here. Your power cannot be allowed to exist." Justice said, her voice taking on a vicious edge.

Hagan stood on his guard, and then she was behind him, seemingly instantly, her tail striking at his back. He rolled back and managed to dodge it, but then she was suddenly above him, striking at him with her feet and tail. He flipped up and jumped back, only to narrowly dodge a swipe by her tail. He tried to draw a chopstick, but she was on him, striking at him repeatedly with her tail. He managed to dodge her attacks and flip back a few feet. They came to face one another again. Hagan was breathing heavily, and Justice floated there silently, awaiting his next move.

He concentrated his new power, chi, into his hands and threw it as though it were a chopstick. Radiant light flew from his hands, taking the form of his combat chopsticks, and flew towards her. She darted out of the way, but he redirected their course, sending them speeding at her back. They impacted on her exposed back, and she flew forward a few feet, giving a metallic gasp from the attack. Hagan ran in, calling chi to his hands to strike a blow, but was unprepared for her sudden response. Long claws sprang from her hands, seemingly growing from almost nothing, and they swiped across his chest, spraying blood on them both, and leaving deep wounds in his chest.

Hagan fell back onto the deck, his concentration broken by the severe blow. He could feel the deep lacerations in his chest. He could feel the burning of torn flesh and exposed bone. He shakily stood up, almost falling again from the pain.

"You have done well, human. I acknowledge your strength and your devotion to these people. It will not save you though. I am death, and it is your time." Justice said and began to advance on him.

He knew that they were beaten. "We did well, didn't we?" he asked of his other side as Justice closed in. "Yes... you fought well, I'll give you that. Now, it seems that we die." was its somewhat sad response. Hagan thought of Alyssa, and wanted to run to her before he died, to see her again. Almost as if he called her, the door to the deck opened, and Alyssa ran out, followed by Johnny, May, Dizzy and Descartes. All of them had their weapons drawn.

All but Alyssa stared in shock at the sight of Justice floating before them. Alyssa ran to Hagan's side, and gasped at the deep wounds on his chest. Hagan tried to shoo her back, but she wouldn't leave his side. She started crying and she turned to face Justice, and she interposed herself between the two.

The rest of them formed up around him, surrounding him. They were protecting him, all of them. The sight made Hagan want to laugh from the surprise and happiness, but he was in too much pain for anything. He tried to stand, to help them, but he couldn't even rise.

"Justice, go away. The odds are now against you, and we can repel you together. We're strong enough." Johnny said, pointing his sheathed sword at her.

Dizzy had a look of fear on her face, but she stood her ground. May also, had a look of fear, but she also had anger in her eyes. Descartes' face was unreadable, but he stood his ground with his large sword drawn and held out in front of him. Hagan noticed that it crackled with electricity.

Justice looked at the people in her way, and then she laughed. "So be it. I will let you humans be for now... but I will return to claim what is mine. All in due time..." she said and laughed some more. Hagan's vision was blurring, but he managed to sit up and face her.

Suddenly, her tail snaked by them all, and it plunged into Hagan's chest. Both Johnny's and Descartes' blades shot out to intercept it, but they were a little too late. Her tail pierced deep into his chest, and blood ran from Hagan's agape mouth. He gasped and his vision spun. Alyssa cried out his name, and Johnny muttered curses. As May went to strike out at Justice, she vanished in a flash of light. Hagan coughed up more blood and passed out.

Hagan came to in the void that was within himself. He felt weak and tired. He looked at his chest, only to see the terrible wounds on his body. He could see the deep hole the tail had put in his right lung, and the deep gouges the claws had cut into him. He knew that the injuries were likely fatal. He looked up to he his other self limping over to him, the same wounds on his body.

"We're dying! You know that, right? All of that crap you told me earlier was worthless!" Devil shouted at him, though his voice was weaker that it should have been.

Hagan stepped closer to Devil. "No1 It wasn't all worthless! We're dying so that they had the time to save themselves! That it worth it to me!" Hagan shouted back at him.

"I have to die for your damned foolish trust and morality! I wanted nothing to do with this. This is all your fault." Devil said to him, losing his anger halfway through it. "Though... I will admit, Alyssa is... different from most people. She could have been be trusted, were we to live past this. She was even nice to have around... you picked well in her." he said.

Hagan was rather surprised by his admission. Too bad they were dying, so this new understanding between them was going to be rather short-lived. Hagan sat down, as did Devil, neither having the energy to keep bickering. Then, a thought occurred to him. He wasn't dead just yet! He could still live. He just had to trust in them. They could save him, he had to trust in them and what they could yet do.

"What foolishness are you thinking now? This isn't even an issue of trust! We're too injured to keep living for much longer. Trust or no, they can't save us. Accept it!" Devil spat at him, hopeless anger in his voice.

"I will keep trusting them until either I am dead or I am back among the living. Until either of these things happen, I will continue to wait and trust in them. You can do what you will." Hagan said to his other side.

He was deathly afraid, but he refused do go down consumed by fear and depression. At the very least, he would die with trust in his heard, and his mind on Alyssa. Devil scowled at him, weakness eating at his anger, but said nothing more and laid down.

Strangely enough, it seemed to Hagan that he too, was waiting. He looked at Devil, seemingly falling asleep, and he knew that it was getting worse. He too felt extremely drained and powerless, and knew that death was coming. He struggled to maintain his clarity, but it was a losing battle. His eyes closed, and he felt himself drifting far away...

Alyssa sat in the hospital room where Hagan had been taken to after Justice had left them. She looked over to the bed where Hagan was resting. Though he was covered by a thin blanket, she could still see the many bandages covering the horrible injuries that he had suffered though it. His breathing was shallow and wet, his face was covered in sweat, and his pulse fluctuated. He looked very pale. Alyssa got up and walked over to his side and took his hand in hers. It was all she could do for him now.

"You'll live, I know you will. You have to keep your promise to protect me." she said, and fresh tears began to run down hr face.

She looked at him, knowing that each wound he had suffered was for her sake, and that he had fought to protect her, just like he had promised he would. And it had all but killed him to do it. 'Was this all... her fault?' she kept thinking. She fell to her knees next to his bed and laid her head down next to his hand, and began to sob.

Johnny and Dizzy watched from across the hall, and heard her cries. Dizzy's face had tear streaks as well, and Johnny looked grim. Johnny turned to Dizzy. "Do you think it will work?"

"It has to, or he'll die. I can't think of anything else to do for him. Its my fault... Justice came for me... I know it." Dizzy said and more tears fell.

Johnny put his arm around her and said "No, its not your fault. Justice came of her own will, nothing you could have done would have changed that. We need to worry about saving him, not blaming ourselves. Can you save him?"

Dizzy looked at him. She gave a thin smile and said "I will try."

Hagan suddenly 'awoke', thought he immediately knew he was still drifting within himself. He stood and took in his created surroundings. He was in an empty warehouse, or so it seemed. A candle burned in each corner of this large room, giving it a dim illumination. No crates or anything else that would be found in such a place were there, and on further examination, Hagan discovered that there were no windows or exits of any kind. He walked abut the room, rather puzzled.

Then, a figure slowly formed in the middle of the dim room. It was the girl he had murdered when he'd been trying to help. Hagan found himself with nothing to say, and fresh guilt coursing through him. He took a few steps towards her, hoping to reach out to her, but then stopped, unsure of what he could do.

"You murdered me... How could you? I thought you were going to save me!" she whispered at him, accusations in her eyed.

"I... I didn't want to! I wanted to save you! I wanted to help you!" Hagan shouted at her, wanting the accusations to just go away.

"You murdered me!" was all she said in response, and Hagan took a step back.

Another visage appeared before him. This one was a slightly overweight man, wearing a brown trench coat and a brown bowler derby. He had a short and well-trimmed beard and small glasses. Hagan knew this person as well, this was the detective he had killed before he'd killed this girl.

"You murdered me as well... I did nothing wrong. I was a good person, and I was only trying to do what was right for everyone. I was trying to protect people when you murdered me!" he shouted at Hagan, hate marring his otherwise kind looking face.

Hagan took another step back, his face full of pain. "Please... I... I'm trying to make amends for my evil deeds! Please just leave me be!" he cried out and turned around.

Yet another figure formed in front of him, and he knew this one too. This one was a younger man, no older than twenty, wearing jeans and a tee shirt. This was another of his victims, killed on contract over a year ago.

"You worthless murderer! What did I ever do to deserve death... Tell me!" he shouted at Hagan. whom had no response for the young man. He'd just carried out his orders, killing him without thought. Guilt washed over him.

A pair appeared in the room after the detective, and he struggled to contain his despair. It was his aunt and uncle, coming to accuse him with the rest of these people. They said nothing to him, but their hatred and pain was clear in their expressions, aimed all at him. He made a pitiful gasp and was truly afraid.

More and more people appeared in the forsaken place, all victims of Hagan at some point in his life. Each one had an accusation, a condemnation, waiting on their tongue... Hagan spun around, trying to find some escape, but there was no way out of this hell. He backed into a corner, near tears at this point. Then, another visage appeared, but this one formed from his own shadow. It was Zato-1, his mentor in murder.

"You forsook me and my way... I raised you from the pitiful, broken wretch that was brought to me into a masterful killer. All of these people around you, your victims, speak of your skills at death dealing. You decided to forsake me, and the path I made for you, and now you will suffer in hell for it. Didn't you know, Hagan Ko Lu, that this place is your personal Hell? There is only one way out, and you know what that path is. You must forsake your weakness and compassion, and return to my path, the path of the murderer! Only fortified by an iron will and a lack of compassion can you banish these victims from your heart. Accept it... and accept my way again!" Zato-1 said to him, his voice icy, but filled with dark promise.

Hagan looked to his victims, and back to Zato, who was giving him a rather impatient look. Each of his victims gave him a hateful glare, accusing him without words. Hagan desperately wanted to give into Zato's cold logic. If he closed off his heart again, their words couldn't affect him, and their accusations would be meaningless to him. It would be so easy to give into the murderous path again... it was so simple, after all. He was accepted and taken care of if he just followed orders. It was so simple and reassuring.

He shook his head. No, this was not the way, he was sure of it. It was the killer's path that had brought him to this hell, and he knew, deep in his soul, that it wouldn't save him from it. It was the cause of all of this, not the answer. Besides, it wouldn't be fair to those whom had believed in him. Alyssa, Dizzy, Johnny, May, the Mayship crew, and even Devil in the end... they had all believed in him and his desire to make things right. They'd all worked to help him in their own way, and to revert now... that would be a terrible betrayal of them all. He went back to Alyssa in his mind. He couldn't bear to betray her trust and love, even if it was the only way to live. He found that he'd rather die than betray her trust. The thought was far worse than anything this so-called hell could throw at him.

"No, Zato, your path isn't for me any longer. In fact, your path was never really for me, I just was too weak too see it at the time. You took advantage of my feeble state to mold me into your killer, and I reject that here and now! Each of these people here, my victims, deserves better than to be ignored! I've earned their ire, and Ill face it. I'll not run from what I've done any longer..." Hagan said, and walked right past Zato. The scene vanished into darkness as he walked past him.

He awoke, into the living world this time. He was on a hospital bed, and he was in an unfamiliar place. The room was sparse, and besides himself, the bed, and the medical equipment hooked to him, there was only a single chair in the room. There was a window, but it was covered by an opaque black curtain. Hagan found that he was in a bit of pain, but it wasn't so bad. He focused on simply sitting up, which he found to be rather difficult to do. He managed it, and was rewarded with throbbing pain from his chest. While he was afraid to look, afraid that this was some new hell, he forced himself to look under the flimsy shirt his unknown caretakers had provided him with.

He saw, amazingly enough, that the near lethal wounds had all but healed. They had left prominent scars, still angry red, but mostly healed. He was forced to wonder just how long he had been out of it for him to have healed that well. He pulled the heart monitor's wires from him, and he slowly stood. He was stiff and smelly, and he suddenly wanted a hot bath. He explored the room, finding a sink and toilet in one corner, hidden behind a thin partition. He washed as best as he could using the sink, feeling refreshed as he splashed the hot water over himself.

When he was done, he set out to discover just where he was. He looked out of the covered window to see a large city before him. He saw the ruins of recently destroyed building everywhere, and when he put that together with the landmarks he saw, he knew where he was immediately. He was in Paris, the Mayship's destination before Justice had attacked them. Worry set in, and he wondered if they'd executed their mission without him. He wondered if they were alright... if Alyssa was alright. He walked to the door of the room, and found it unlocked, which was reassuring. Whomever had him at the moment didn't desire to imprison him here. He opened the door, and walked out slowly.

He found himself in a long hallway going in either direction. A sign on the wall told him that this was a Holy Knight facility, and that the exit was to his left. He crept in that direction, edging closer to the double doors at the left end of the hall. He crept along, expecting anything at this point. He pushed the doors open and flattened himself against the wall next to the door. Nothing happened immediately, so he peeked through the now open doors.

He saw what seemed to be a waiting room, with a few people milling about. There was a desk in the middle of the room with a single man sitting there, wearing a Holy Knight's outfit. He scanned the room, and gasped in surprise when he saw Alyssa sitting at a chair against the wall in the room. She was sleeping, and she looked worn down even in her sleep. At seeing her, Hagan relaxed. This was no trap, he knew then, but where they'd taken him to help him. He walked into the waiting room and up to the desk, giving the man an authoritative look.

The man at the desk looked at him with obvious surprise. "I'm checking out, if you don't mind." he told the man and walked past.

"Hey! You aren't supposed to be up and about! You need to get back to bed immediately!" he said, consternation and annoyance in his baritone voice.

"Trust me... I'm well enough, and these walls are oppressive to me. I"m going back to those who need me." Hagan said and kept going towards Alyssa.

He heard the guy mutter under his breath, but he really didn't care one bit what that guy did. Hagan knew what his priorities were, where he needed to be, and what he needed to be doing. His vision of hell had burned its self into his mind. Each accusation had stayed with him, but he knew what to do with them. He was going to follow his path of redemption and compassion, no matter what it cost him. It was the only way to make right what he'd done as an assassin.

He sat down next to Alysa and looked at her. Sleeping, she was an angel, peaceful and beautiful. He looked back at the man at the desk, and saw him reading a book, seemingly no longer concerned with him, which was fine with Hagan. Alyssa was his main concern, not what these people wanted from him. He debated on whether or not to wake her, but he decided that she would want to know that he was alright... and he wanted to hear her voice, he admitted to himself somewhat sheepishly.

"Alyssa... Alyssa... Please wake up. I'm alright now. I... I want to hear you speak to me. Wake up, please." he asked her gently, wrapping his right arm around her sleeping form.

Alyssa stirred, and her eyes slowly opened. She looked at him, blinked, and looked at him again. "Hagan..." she whispered, and then wrapped her arms around him fiercely, suddenly crying.

Hagan also hugged her and held her tightly as she cried happily. He ignored the looks they were getting from the other people, concerned only with Alyssa.

"This... this isn't a dream, is it? You're here, right? You're OK, right?" she asked him between sniffles as she tried to stop her crying.

"Its as real as anything can be, Alyssa, and unless this is a pleasant dream for me... I'm here for you. Don't worry, I'm alright." Hagan told her soothingly, running his hand through her soft, silvery hair that he liked so much.

"The Knights' said that you might not live through the night, and... I was... so worried for you. I didn't know what to do..." she mumbled into his chest.

Hagan held her for a bit longer before releasing her. "It'll be alright now. Where is everyone else? I'd like to leave this depressing place and go... home." he said finally, feeling that he was right to call the ship home. He had a home again, after all of this time, and it felt good.

"They're all waiting at the ship. We decided to go to Paris, even with you terribly injured. We had hoped that they could help you as we helped them. I'm so glad that they could save you. I... don't know what I'd do if I lost you, Hagan. Please be careful... and please don't hate me. Its my fault you fought Justice, isn't it? You fought her for me, didn't you?" she asked of him, fresh tears forming in her eyes, and guilt written on her face.

Hagan was momentarily taken aback. He hadn't expected this at all. "Listen to me, Alyssa. Never blame yourself for the actions of others, ever. It wasn't your fault that Justice came, nor is it your fault that I fought her. I chose to fight for you and the others freely, and would do so again if I had to, without complaint or blame." Hagan rose, lifting her up by her hand as he did so. "Please, Alyssa, don't blame yourself for any of this." he asked of her gently.

She looked into his eyes, and she shook away her tears. "Alright, Hagan, lets go home then." she said happily, and they walked out of the makeshift hospital together, hand in hand.

They walked out into the sunlight, both happy again. They walked the streets of the injured city, Hagan taking in the sights of the devastation. He saw the ruined buildings and smelled the remnants of fires only recently put out. He could almost feel the sorrow and pain that lingered yet in the city and in the people, and it tugged at his heart. So much needless death and destruction had happened here, and it steeled his resolve even more.

They kept walking, still hand in hand, taking comfort in each other's presence in this backdrop of destruction. They walked to the outskirts of the city, where Hagan could see the Mayship resting among trees. He smiled at the sight, feeling a strong sense of homecoming. Alyssa looked up at him, grinning, and they walked to the ship.

Hagan saw Dizzy walking around outside of the ship, looking lost. They walked up to her, and when she saw the two of them, she began to run over to them. She reached the pair, a smile on her face and a trace of tears on her cheeks.

"You're alive! We didn't know if you would live through the night. We were worried about you, Hagan. I'm glad to see you well." she said to him, making Hagan feel a bit embarrassed.

"I'm sorry to have worried you all, I really am, but I'm better now. Don't worry." he told her, touched deeply by the concern clearly on her features.

Hagan noticed that a concerned look passed between Dizzy and Alyssa, but he said nothing about it. He knew they would talk to him if it was needed. He was surprised to find that he had no trouble trusting these people anymore, and it gladdened him. They made their way onto the ship that was their home.

Hagan walked the now familiar corridors, feeling nearly overcome with happiness. He'd wondered, for a time, if he'd ever see this place again, but that was over now. Looked to the two girls... no, women walking with him, and he sighed. "I trusted you all, even near death as I was, I trusted in you all to save me. Despite everything, knowing that I was dying... I found myself trusting in you all to save me. I knew you all would find a way..." he said to them, hoping to convey some measure of his gratitude to them.

The two women stopped walking, and another look passed between them. Hagan was now rather curious as to what was on their minds. Dizzy looked uncomfortable for some reason, and Alyssa had a strange expression on her face. Alyssa cleared her throat and began speaking.

"About that... We knew that you were dying when we got you into our infirmary and... we had to take some... unusual steps to save you. We, uh... we had to give you more blood and somehow get you to start healing immediately, so we did what we thought was necessary to save your life. Dizzy... well, she gave you some of her blood to keep you going." Alyssa told him.

Hagan was at first simply surprised by this, but then the full implications sunk in. Dizzy was a Gear... and he'd been given Gear blood in order to survive. Had the blood come from any other Gear, Hagan knew he would feel... somehow wronged, but not with Dizzy. She may be a Gear, but Hagan didn't see her that way. He saw her as a woman and a friend, and her being a Gear was trivial. He did wonder what that would do to him, having the blood of a powerful Gear flowing within him. He didn't feel any different, but that meant nothing.

Dizzy was looking away from him at this point, her gaze downcast. Alyssa was looking at him, trying to judge his reaction to this sudden news. Both of them seemed nervous. Hagan couldn't help but chuckle at this. It wasn't what he had expected at all, but it didn't bother him.

"Dizzy... you saved my life. Don't look down on yourself, you can look up with pride. You did what you felt was right, and I'm alive, so I would say it was worth it. I owe you my life." he told her, giving her a deep bow.

Dizzy gave him an astonished look. "I'm a Gear! You have a Gear's blood within you now! Doesn't that bother you?" she asked him, obviously expecting a different reaction.

Hagan shrugged and waved off her concern. "It doesn't matter. You may be a Gear, but you're a friend first and foremost, and that's all that matters to me. To be honest, were it just some Gear's blood, I would probably be appalled, but... you're not just some Gear, you're a true friend whom acted to save my life. How could I be anything but grateful to you?" he told her, and she looked up and gave him a happy smile.

Alyssa then clung to his arm, looking up at him and grinning. "You're the best, Hagan!" she said and they walked on happily. They found their way to the door to Johnny's room after a time, but they took their time.

"Johnny wanted to talk to you once you recovered. He said he had no doubt that you'd make it. I'll meet you once you're done talking to him... or you can just go to bed when you're done. You must be exhausted." Alyssa told him.

"Not really. I'd say I've had enough sleep for now. How about you meet me in the mess hall in an hour or so? You can come too, Dizzy, if you would like." Hagan told them.

"I'll have to pass, I"m afraid. I've got a lot to do today. I'll see you later." Dizzy said and walked off. Hagan then realized that she had looked tired, but had been trying to hide it. She must not have slept well. Alyssa gave him a quick kiss and then followed after Dizzy.

Hagan sighed and knocked on the door. He heard Johnny tell him to come in, and he opened the door and walked in.

Johnny was walking around the room with shot glass in one hand, idly swirling it as he paced. Something seemed to be on his mind, as he didn't even look up for a long moment after he had entered. He finally looked up at Hagan and gave him a welcoming smile.

"Welcome back to the living, my friend!" said and tossed the shot down quickly. "How are you feeling?" he asked after sighing from taking the shot.

"Rather good, actually. Strange as it is, nearly dying actually helped me out a bit. I worked some important things out in my head while I lay in unconsciousness. Also, the homecoming has been rather nice so far. I'm alive and the people I care about are safe, so that's all that really matters." Hagan said and chuckled softly.

Johnny sat down at his table and motioned for Hagan to sit, so he did. Johnny pured himself another shot, and offered one to Hagan whom politely declined. Johnny laughed.

"You did just get up, I would imagine, and I guess you don't want to end up in your bed so soon. I understand, but you'll have to have a drink with me at some point. A crew of girls leaves me with no one to drink with usually, so having someone to drink with is quite a treat." Johnny said and then frowned. "I hope Dizzy spoke with you about what was done to save you..." he said and looked at him, waiting for is answer.

"Yeah, she did, and as I told her, I'm just glad to be alive still. If Gear blood is what sustains me now, then I'm just glad that Dizzy was the one to give it. It doesn't bother me at all." Hagan said simply. It wasn't really an issue to him.

"Good, good. I was hoping that you'd be accepting of it. After it was done she was very worried as to what you would think once you learned of it. I told her it would be alright, but I think she needed to hear it from you, since you were the one that had to live with it when all was said and done." Johnny said and sipped on his shot.

"Alyssa told me that you wanted to talk to me when I was better. Was it just about Dizzy giving me blood, or was there something more." Hagan asked. He had a suspicion that Johnny hadn't called him in here just to ask him about that, and that bad news was probably coming.

"Well... that was one thing on my mind, but there's something else. The Gears are ramping up their activities, and Berlin was attacked this morning. The city is safe as a whole, but there was lot of needless destruction. People all over the world are starting to grow afraid... and I can't blame them. No one seems to have an idea as to where they're staging these attacks from. There's no place to counter-attack and no way to know which city they will strike at next. Even though their attacks seem to be limited to Europe, there's no way of knowing where they will show up next. We're going to meet up with some old friends of mine once we leave this city. Hopefully, they'll have some useful information for us to use." Johnny said, and Hagan could see the worry in his eyes.

"What would you have me do?" asked Hagan.

Johnny looked up at him and chuckled. "You've done enough for now, I would say. Isn't nearly dying enough for at least a few days?" Johnny laughed briefly and then continued. "Until I meet with my friends and learn something useful, we really can't do much. Just help out on the ship and enjoy yourself for the time being... and if you feel anything weird or unusual, please tell me. We don't know just what giving a human Gear blood will do, so be careful for now. That's all I can give you to do, so as your captain, I'm telling you to relax a bit." he said and finished his drink.

"As you order, captain." Hagan said and jokingly saluted as he stood, ready to leave. Johnny just shooed him off with a chuckle, so he left him to his drinks.

Hagan began to make his way to the mess hall. His talk had taken well under an hour, but he didn't want to be late. He walked down the corridors of his home, wondering about the Gear attacks. Hagan knew that Justice roamed free, and the Gears were massing under her, but something seemed to be missing from all of this. How had Justice gotten free in the first place? She was supposed to have been sealed away in another dimension for all time... but she obviously had other plans. That was the other big thing, Justice's plans. He had no idea what she was trying to accomplish beyond what he had heard of her ideals. She wanted to kill off all human life, or so he had been told in the Syndicate. Why? He turned the thought around in his head. He recalled his recent encounter with Justice with a shiver. She had come for Dizzy, or so she had said. Again... why? What was her plan? Dizzy wasn't a focused killer like Justice, and even with her supposedly great power, Hagan didn't think Justice could make her kill. Hagan growled in annoyance and shook his head. This was all rather complicated. When he looked up again, he was near the doors to the mess hall.

He walked on and passed through the doors into the mess hall. He saw Alyssa immediately. She was showing around two girls, seemingly new, around the hall. The members of the crew in the hall were welcoming these two here. From what he could gather, these two girls were orphans from Paris, and had decided to join the crew rather than be evacuated somewhere else. He walked up and sat at a table near the spectacle. The two girls were now introducing themselves to the assembled people. Hagan simply waited for this event to come to completion, but Alyssa came up to him, with the two girls in tow.

"Alright girls, now I want you to meet... well, the man I owe my life to twice over and a loyal member of the crew. He's a newer member of the crew as well, if either you see the other lost, try to help them out. Why don't you tell us your name?" Alyssa said, her voice had a singsong quality to it, and she sounded amused. Since most of the crew rarely saw Hagan, they were watching this with interest.

Hagan stammered, taken by surprise. "Uh... well... I'm ah, Hagan. Hagan Ko Lu... its a pleasure to meet you two." he said, regaining his poise midway through.

This first girl, having very short blond hair and blue eyes, gave him a sly look. She seemed only a bit older than Alyssa, perhaps seventeen, he thought. He could tell that she was a fighter just by the way she carried herself and walked. While her frame was small, Hagan could see muscular development on her arms and legs, indicating training. She wore the standard sailor uniform of the crew, blue in color. "I'm named Alice Risetto, but just call me Risetto." she said to him.

The other girl was giving him a mildly curious look. She had long red hair, going down her back in a single braid. Tied to the end of the braid was what seemed to be a small silver bell. She wore the same thing as Risetto, but hers was green, seemingly to match her dark, marble green eyes. She seemed to be about seventeen as well. "I'm Rina Senill." she said simply, her voice quiet, and gave a slight bow.

Before Alyssa could move the girls on, the one called Risetto walked up to Hagan and looked right at him. Hagan looked up at her, wondering what she was doing. Hagan almost felt like he was being... leered at. "So, you're the only other guy on this ship huh... I bet you feel lucky. Lots of sights to see.." she said to him, smirking evilly.

Hagan blinked in surprise. This girl had an attitude on her, but there was something else to it that he couldn't quite figure out. "Yeah, I'm lucky to be here... but not for the reasons you seem to be thinking of. Anyone should think themselves lucky to be among friends and loved ones, wouldn't you agree?" Hagan said as chastisement.

Risetto blinked in surprise, and then chuckled. Several of the crew still watching shot Risetto glares for being so rude. Alyssa was also glaring, and hers was rather intent. She looked around at the glares, and gave a slightly sheepish look. "Well, yeah. I guess you aren't so bad after all... I'm sorry. Forgive me?" she asked, giving him a abashed look.

Hagan shrugged. "Don't worry about it. I'm a bit out of place on this ship by appearances, I'll admit, but don't worry about me. I'm pretty much harmless." he said lightly, waving the whole thing off. If that was the worst of it, he was fine.

The girl called Rina was looking at him intently, and Hagan looked up at her. Her expression was slowly forming a faint scowl. "You... you're an assassin!" she hissed and took a step back. Her eyes held fear... and anger.

Risetto spun around to face Hagan again, and she shifted her posture, seemingly readying herself. "Is that true!?" she said, her face filled with rage.

Alyssa ran in front of Hagan, placing herself between them. "He was an assassin, but he's quit their ranks! Stop with these accusations!" Alyssa yelled at them.

Risetto swore loudly. Rina was giving Alyssa a hard look. "An assassin killed Risetto's parents when she was eight. They were hired by rival businessmen so that they could take their company. We've both seen what assassins do... they murder." Rina said to Alyssa.

Risetto began to slowly approach Hagan, her hands clenched into fists. Hagan could see it in her eyes, the desperate anger and sorrow that moved her now. She seemed angry enough to actually attack him. Hagan stood as she advanced on him. The rest of the girls watching were backing away, and at least one had run to get Johny. Risetto walked past Alyssa, whom didn't move to get in her way this time, and Hagan knew why. Only he could stop this from getting too ugly.

"Your miserable kind killed my parents! You assassins ruined my life!" she shouted, and Hagan could see tears forming in her eyes. "They were good to me! They were kind! Why did they have to die!?" she shouted at him, advancing even closer, and her hands ready to strike.

Hagan looked at the pain in her eyes, and didn't know what to say.


	4. Chapter 4

Sorry for the ong wait there, I've been dealing with moving and finding a new place to live for now. I'll keep writing this when I can, but there will be long breaks from time to time. Anyways, I'm glad people are liking it so far. It will keep going for as long as it needs to, and I'll keep writing until its finished!

**Chapter Four: The Pain of the Past**

Suddenly, Risetto swung at Hagan, aiming for the temple. Hagan stepped back, avoiding the blow. She followed up by trying to sweep Hagan with her feet, but he jumped them and flipped away. He looked at her, at the rage she felt, and he knew she was raging because she was in pain.

"I know that you've suffered at the hands of assassins, but you must believe me when I say that I am one no longer! I've changed my ways and rejected that way of life forever! Stop this!" Hagan shouted at her.

She gave him a strange look, then her rage returned. "I can't stop now! I've trained since that day to take my revenge! If I can't get that one assassin, I'll settle for another! No assassin ever leaves the Syndicate, isn't that right?" she responded, moving closer in.

Hagan took a few steps back, and narrowly avoided her fist again. He was growing frustrated with this, and he was growing afraid that Devil might decide to rear his head at any moment and make things worse. He wanted to just end this before something bad happened.

She swung again, but this time Hagan caught her fist with his hand, holding it in place. She struggled to break his hold, but his skill was much greater. "Look Risetto, I can't change who I was or what happened to you, but killing me isn't going to do that either!" he said and looked her right in the eyes. "I'm... I'm a murderer, just like you said. I've killed people in cold blood before, and it stains my soul. Don't do that to yourself. Don't kill in cold blood and make yourself a murderer too." he asked of her. His tone was almost begging her.

She hesitated, her rage wavering. She looked to Rina, who said simply "He's telling the truth. I can tell he's a killer no longer." Hagan gave her a puzzled look, wondering how she was so perceptive, to notice these things. She looked no longer afraid of or angry at him. She just gave him a cool look, devoid of expression.

Risetto looked back to Hagan, who released her fist. She slowly lowered it to her side. Tears ran down her cheeks, and she suddenly looked defeated and demoralized. She looked around at all of the people looking at her. They were giving her fearful and angry looks. She saw Alyssa run over to Hagan and embrace him. She shot Risetto a hateful look. Risetto took an unsure step back.

Hagan could see her falling back from the glares and and her own defeated expression. Hagan still held Alyssa, who was now cuddling on him. "Look, Risetto... I know some of the pain you feel. I lost my parents to Gears when I was about ten. They attacked my home, killing so many. I let that event tear me apart and drive me mad. It ruined the next ten years of my life... until I found my path to redemption. Don't let your pain destroy your life... its really painful when you go to fix it after that terrible of a beak." he said and chuckled darkly while running a hand over his scarred chest without thinking about it.

Risetto just looked at him, saying nothing. Rina walked up to her and rested her hand on Risetto's back. "Look, Alice, he speaks truly. I told you I'd help you find the one who killed your parents, but this man isn't the one. And with my parents now..." she said, and stopped, momentarily overcome with emotion. "I want to stay with the Jellyfish Pirates here, at least for a time. Lets try to get along with them. He's obviously well liked here... lets trust their judgment until something changes. Alright, Alice?" she said, her voice never going far above a whisper.

Risetto looked at Hagan again, now her face expressing regret and shame. "Oh... I'm so, so sorry! When I heard you were an assassin, those memories came rushing back to me... It was hard to think straight. That's no excuse, but its the truth. I'm really sorry..." she said with a deep bow.

Rina gave Hagan a strange look, and he heard a faint voice in his head. It was Rina's voice! "Please accept her apology, and mine as well. I felt your assassin tattoo's design and intent, and I reacted without thinking. We need this escape, aboard this ship, and I don't want any trouble. I'm very sorry about all of this." her voice said to him.

He blinked at her, surprise on his face. He shook his head ans ordered his thoughts. "Apology accepted. Lets just put all of this behind us. I was having a pretty good day before all of this, and I see no reason not to keep on having one. Why don't you two go to your rooms and cool off for a while. Rest up a bit and sort your thoughts out. I'm not going to hold this against you, so don't worry." he told them. He really was thinking more about how she had done that. Speaking into his mind...

Risetto nodded and bowed, and hurried off to escape the scene. Rina followed a few seconds after, giving Hagan an accepting look. He'd made allies, if not friends of them, or so he hoped. He hugged Alyssa tightly for a moment.

"You handled that well. I guess I wasn't needed after all." Johnny's voice said to him. Hagan turned to see him standing not twenty feet away, and he'd not noticed. He wondered just how long he'd been there, watching.

"I'm just glad that I didn't have to do anything drastic to stop her. I don't know what I would've done if I hadn't been able to talk to her." he said, looking back to the hall they had disappeared down. He had a feeling things were going to be bumpy with them for a while.

Johnny began to walk away. "Remember what I said. Enjoy yourself and stop picking fights with little girls!" he said jokingly as he left the mess hall.

He looked down at Alyssa, who kissed him. Several of the crew saw this, and the whispering began. He looked at the gossiping girls and smiled. It wouldn't have been a secret for very long anyway, and he didn't mind it. "Did you want to do something, Alyssa? It seems I'm under orders to enjoy myself, so lets do something." he told her.

She thought for a moment before responding. "I know, I can show you my paintings! You haven't seen them yet, have you?" she asked him and began to pull him along.

He allowed himself to be led by her, following her out of the mess hall, with several eyes watching them leave. They walked down the corridors of the ship, going deeper than Hagan had been before. They came to a door with Alyssa's name on it.

"This is my room and studio. I don't let too many people in here, so you should feel honored." she told him as she opened the door.

The room was larger than his, he noticed. On each of the walls hung many picture of different things. Even the window had a curtain with a picture painted on it. In one corner of the room was a small bed, and there was a large chest next to it. In the center of the room was a table with four sitting mats around it. There was also a easel and chair near the table. Hagan wandered in after Alyssa, looking at each of the paintings.

Many were sky pictures, seeming to be images seen from her window. Different cloud formations and colorations were captured. One was of a vividly colored rainbow, stretching across the canvas. A few were landscapes, mostly mountainous, that Hagan didn't recognize, but all were well painted. He then came to a picture of the Jellyfish Pirates all assembled together. A sense of friendship radiated from the portrait, and Hagan looked at it for a little bit. One thing was constant with the paintings: they were all amazingly well done.

"These are amazing, Alyssa! You have real talent with this painting. I'm... well, I'm a bit envious, to be honest. I liked painting when I was little, but I was never any good at it. These paintings... they are all masterpieces! Each one is unique and they all capture the... the essence of the scene. You keep impressing me, Alyssa." he told her, admiration in his expression.

She gave him a huge grin. "You really like them? Each one of these is like a friend to me. They remind me to relax and keep things in perspective. The group portrait reminds me that I have friends that care for me... but now I'm missing something." she said, looking at him.

Hagan looked around, puzzled. "What might that be?" he asked her.

"Well... someone wonderful and very important has come into my life recently, and I seem to not have a portrait of him yet. Shouldn't that oversight be corrected?" she asked him and gave him a loving look.

"You planned this the whole time, didn't you? Well... I wanted to spend time with you, so I can't complain. Where should I sit?" he asked her. He'd not planed this kind of thing, but the thought actually didn't seem that bad.

Alyssa directed him to a chair and he sat. She moved her easel and chair to face him. She rummaged through a large chest next to her bed and retrieved an assortment of small jars of paint. She unrolled a canvas and set them all up. She looked at him, taking in his every detail. Hagan felt a little odd, letting someone examine him this way, but it was Alyssa, and the discomfort quickly faded. She began to mix paints and look at him. He watched her, a frenzy of movement, her face in compete focus upon her task, he was thinking...

Devil was rather quiet today. Even when attacked, he'd felt nothing of his rage. "Are you still alive?" he sent the question into his mind. He then felt the stir of him, and he wondered if he's made a mistake.

"I'm alive as long as you are... Do you miss me already? Do you miss my power?" Devil taunted him.

"No. Strangely enough, I was worried about you. What are you doing in there, anyway?" Hagan asked him, rather curious now.

"I'm watching. You asked me to watch you and your new path, remember? I've been watching it all. It seems I may have been... mistaken on a few things, and I've been forced to give you your chance for now. They saved us after all... I'll be watching, remember that." Devil told him, and the feeling faded. He felt more... at peace after hearing that.

"Are you OK, Hagan? You had a spaced out look." Alyssa asked him, snapping him out of it.

"Oh, yeah... I was just thinking, thats all. I'm fine." he assured her.

She kept painting, her brush strokes precise and clean. She would look up at him, study something for a moment, smile at him, and go back to her work. He watched her work, and felt himself loving her. He sighed, and she kept painting. Almost an hour passed this way, before Hagan had to stand. He felt like he was about to cramp everywhere.

"Alyssa... I have to get up for a few minutes. My legs are killing me!" he told her slowly rising, grunting as his knees popped loudly. He moved his arms around slowly.

Alyssa also got up, and went to massaging her painting arm. "Yeah... my arm's starting to hurt. I was on a roll, though! I was getting so much done!" she said happily.

"Can I see it?" he asked her.

"No! Not till its done. Its not any good yet. Until a piece is finished, only the artist should see it, I think. No looking!" she said and walked to her bed and flopped down on it.

Hagan paced around the room, stretching his muscles. He reflexively slipped into performing his training regimen. He began to perform basic katas slowly, accentuating the movements. When his training was done like this, it became an effective way to stretch the muscles and relax the body. His movements flowed from one form to another, like waves in an ocean. Alyssa sat up and was watching him intently.

He went into more advanced forms, flipping back or tumbling around from time to time as the moves called for it. He wasn't really trying to show off, but having an audience was somehow making him try harder than normal. After executing several complex moves, Hagan went back into the more basic forms, slowly bringing the impromptu training to a close. After his final strike, he bowed to Alyssa. She began to clap afterwards.

"Hagan, that was... beautiful! You were so graceful and smooth with each move you did. That made me jealous of you a little bit. I wish I could move so gracefully..." she said with a sigh as she got off of the bed. Hagan then had an idea. He walked up to her and took her hand.

He began to dance with her. The only dance he knew was a waltz. He had learned it as part of his assassin training. He was to enter an elegant party and assassinate an older woman, and he'd learned the dance as a way to get closer to her. He'd ended up not needing it, having ample opportunity to poison her food beforehand, but he still knew the dance well.

Alyssa stumbled at first, rather confused, but Hagan led her well. He slowed his movement so she could begin to follow them. "What are you...?" Alyssa began, but Hagan kissed her to interrupt her. When he pulled away, she was breathless.

"Alyssa, you can be as graceful as you want to be, I'll just show you the way. Follow my steps, my patterns..." he told her and slowly picked up the pace of the dance.

Alyssa picked up the pace as well. She began to dance with him, rather than follow his lead. It was slow at first, but they matched their speed quickly, and they were dancing across her room, no music needed. He looked into her eyes as they danced and was entranced by their emerald beauty. Alyssa smiled at him and leaned her head on his chest, and their dance slowed. They danced without thought of time or place, nor of all the problems that currently afflicted the world. They danced and only knew each other.

Finally, their dance concluded. They were both breathing heavily from the passion they had both felt in that dance. They just stared at one anther for a few minutes, trying to sort out their thoughts. Finally, Alyssa went back to her chair and easel. She motioned for him to sit.

"Hagan... I'd like to finish the portrait, if you don't mind... but... thank you so much for that. Oh, that was... thank you..." she said, giving him a starry-eyed look.

"I'll dance with you anytime you want. All you have to do is ask." he told her.

She went back to painting him. Her brush strokes were a bit slower, more meaningful, this time around. Hagan watched her work, impressed by the precise and exact motions of her brush, combined with her impressive speed, even slowing it down. After another half an hour, she made one final mark and stood. She stretched and sighed. Hagan looked up at her, suddenly woken from his half-sleep by her standing.

"Its... finished." was all she said.

Hagan slowly got up walked over to see what she'd created. It was breathtaking! It was a perfectly accurate picture of him, but what was more impressive was that she had managed to paint herself into it at the same time. She was standing next to him in the picture, one arm around him and her head resting on his shoulder. There was a warmth to the picture that made Hagan smile.

"Perfect." was all he had to say.

Together, they hung the picture next to the one of the crew. It seemed to fit there best. Hagan looked out her window to see that night had fallen and that it was late. It was no wonder that he was so tired. He wanted to stay with her, but he knew that they both needed the sleep.

"Alyssa, I think its my bed time about now. Yours too. This has been a great night, thanks to you." he told her.

"Yeah, we should get some sleep, but Hagan, the night wasn't so great because of me... it was you. I was just painting... you were the one who showed me that I could dance and be graceful. You gave me something good tonight, and I won't ever forget it. Thank you Hagan. You may have once been an assassin, but you are nothing like one now... never forget that." she told him, and he hugged her fiercely, and kissed her.

He left her room after that, heading to his room. He began to hum without thinking about it. He was in very high spirits at this point.

He made it to his room and walked in, still humming all the while. He walked over to his window and looked out of it. Off in the distance, he could see the city of Paris standing defiantly against the night. The Gears, Justice, had tried to tear it down, but they had failed. The city still stood, and despite the death and destruction, the people were rebuilding. He'd seen the world as dying, but he could see the truth in this city. The people were struggling their hardest to survive what the world threw at them. He remembered seeing the people helping one another while he had been in the city, smiling and laughing as they worked. He remembered his night with Alyssa and sighed. He had been so wrong about the world! He'd been ignoring the things around him and repressing the emotions that made life what it was. He understood that from all that had happened.

He walked over to his bed and flopped onto it. He was very tired, but very relaxed and at peace at the same time. He quickly fell into a deep sleep. For a while, his sleep was peaceful and content, but then he began to toss and turn in his sleep. He was having another nightmare.

Hagan was running after something. He didn't know what it was or why he chased it, but he couldn't stop chasing it. His body was strange... bestial and twisted. He had black skin and long black hair. His teeth were all sharpened, and his body was muscular and streamlined. His senses were sharper and more focused. He could hear the sounds of his prey. He could... feel it running from him. He could feel its fear. He ran faster and faster... faster that he could possibly run naturally. As he was nearly on the prey, he snapped out of the dream.

He was breathing heavily, and he felt like had actually just ran for an hour straight. His muscles ached and he was sweaty. He sat up and tried to calm himself down. He breathed deeply and focused himself It was just a strange dream, he told himself, and with that comforting thought, he fell back into a dreamless sleep.

He awoke feeling refreshed well. His strange dream form earlier was all but forgotten. He retrieved his other gi from his small collection of gear and wore it. He performed his morning training, and equipped himself. That's when he realized that his combat chopsticks had been lost in the fight with Justice. He cursed loudly and finished gathering his sharpened chopsticks together. He armed himself as best as he could, but his best weapon was gone. He left his room and went to talk to Johnny about getting a replacement set made if possible. He could fight without them well enough, but they were designed to be his edge in battle, full of surprises. He'd rather not be without them if he could help it. Too many things had happened without warning now.

He walked down the corridors and quickly found his way to Johnny's room. He knocked and was told to come in. He walked in to see Johnny talking with a man he recognized instantly. This was Ky Kiske, the leader of the Sacred Order of the Holy Knights, in person. Hagan took a step back from this man. He'd learned of this man's power in the Syndicate. Zato had told him stories of their past battles. If Zato respected the man's fighting prowess, then he was good.

Johnny seemed to sense his discomfort and motioned for him to sit down. "You came at the perfect time, Hagan. We were just discussing the Gear situation. I think we should both hear from you on a few things that recently happened. Would you mind?" Johnny asked him.

Hagan sat down. This wasn't what he came for, but he knew it had to happen at some point. He had fought Justice, the leader of the Gears. People were going to want to know about that. Also, his all too recent assassin affiliation was probably going to come up.

Ky looked at him. He was wearing the Holy Knight's uniform that he'd seen him wearing in pictures from the Syndicate. Blue and white were the colors of the uniform, and he had a large but thin sword set to his side. He'd heard of that blade as well. It held the power of lightening within it, amplifying Ky's own natural affinity, or so he'd been told. Despite his youthful appearance, Hagan could sense the power this man had, and was wary.

"I'd introduce myself, but from what I've been told, you should know me, right?' Ky asked him, his tone businesslike.

"I know of you. You're Ky Kiske, leader of the Holy Knights. You're natural affinity is for lightening. You're sword over there magically amplifies your electrical power. You like to collect tea cups as a hobby. You were personally trained by Kliff to take your current role, and are almost to his level of swordsmanship. You came from humble origins to the Knights about fifteen years ago, having a rapid climb to power. I could go on, but I don't think I need to. The Syndicate knows a lot about you, thus I do as well." Hagan said, wanting to throw the man off-balance.

While it was his practice as an assassin to not know the personal details of his target beyond what was relevant to the assassination, certain targets were different. Possible targets like Ky Kiske or Johnny were carefully studied, just in case the opportunity ever presented its self.

Ky blinked in mild surprise, but he seemed to not be bothered overmuch by it. "At this point, I'd be surprised if they didn't know where I was going to eat before I did. You, however, are supposed to be a former assassin. Johnny vouches for you. Descartes vouches for you, albeit somewhat grudgingly. I'm not here to challenge you or to mince words with you. I'm here to figure out what is going on and why people are dying." Ky told him, his tone dead serious.

"Alright, I can respect that. As a belated introduction... I am Hagan Ko Lu, former assassin trained by Zato-1 himself. I've abandoned the Syndicate after I had an encounter that changed how I saw... everything. I've come to the Jellyfish Pirates for shelter and to help them protect people... though I imagine you want to hear about Justice, not me." he said and chuckled.

"Yes, but if we are to work with one another at some point, we will need to know one another, at least a little bit. For now though, tell me of... Justice." he said, his voice had a dangerous edge to it when he said her name.

"I was on the rear deck with Alyssa, another crew mate of mine, when I felt dread. I sent her for aid and I challenged. She appeared and told he she had come for Dizzy. I told her... no. Only by going through me could she do that. She attacked me and I defended, but it was a losing battle. She wounded me badly, and I fell. Then Johnny and the rest came out there. They confronted Justice and she attacked me as she fled. I almost died, but I managed to stay alive due to the aid of the crew... Dizzy especially." Hagan told him. He omitted a lot of things that he really didn't feel like going into just yet, especially the power he had harnessed at that time.

Ky gave him an impressed look, as did Johnny. "You openly challenged Justice and tried to fight her... That's impressive, I'll say. You said that she had come for Dizzy, right?" Ky asked him, getting back to business.

"That's what she told me anyway. It would make sense, as Dizzy is a Gear." Hagan said.

"She's probably trying to collect more powerful Gears... but why? She already has enough power to attack us brazenly and hurt us good. What is she trying to do this time?" Ky mused as he talked. Hagan had to wonder as well.

"She seeks to eliminate all of humanity, right? She could be trying to get so much power at her command that we have no chance to fight her," Johnny said, also thinking as he spoke.

"No... if this was as simple as genocide, the attacks would be much more focused. Her units would move as an army, and they would make sure to kill everyone. Its how she did it before." Ky said simply, and they all reflected for a moment on the past.

"Perhaps she lacks the numbers she used to have. Many Gears have been destroyed over the course of this long conflict. Hit and run might be all she can do for now." Johnny said.

Hagan was being quiet, simply listening to them talk, and and was deep in thought. There was something else going on here. Something didn't add up. He had no idea what it was, but there was something deeper at work here. Perhaps there was a pattern or a clue, but he didn't know where to begin to look.

"Perhaps... but this feels different, somehow. This isn't like it was before." Ky said.

"I agree with Ky. There is something else, something deeper at work here. I have this feeling that there is a plan or two already in motion, and that we are very much in the dark about it. Its not a good feeling." Hagan said.

"There's not much we can do about that now. Have you found... him, yet? If the Gears are on the move, you can be he will be as well." Johnny asked Ky. Hagan had no idea who they could mean. It was a little annoying.

"Not a thing yet. I did run into Slayer two nights ago. He was in Paris when the attack happened. He helped me out in that terrible battle. I was still exhausted from the London ordeal, and it was a very long fight. He said that something dark was coming, and that the Gears were very related to it. He left shortly after we had control of the city again, and he didn't tell me much else. Make of that what you will. It didn't help me at all..." Ky said to them.

"Slayer isn't very helpful when it comes to information, now is he? You can't rely on him for anything accept to show up when there's trouble." Johnny said.

"Same could be said of you and your crew." Ky countered, and Johnny laughed.

"Yeah, yeah... But at least I have the manners to have these little chats with you and let you know what we're up to." Johnny said, and Ky sighed.

"Yes, but only when it suits you. You certainly don't tell me when your group pirates something valuable and rare from someone... They end up complaining to me, you know?" Ky told him, giving the man an exasperated look.

Johnny at least had the good sense to look somewhat abashed by his words. "That's not important right now, is it? Lets get back to the topic at hand." Johnny said, and Ky muttered something under his breath that sounded like 'common rogue'. Johnny paid it no mind.

Before Ky could begin, there was a knock on the door. "Must be the other person we've been expecting... Come in!" Johnny said and the door opened.

Dizzy walked in slowly, looking rather nervous. She gave Ky a look, which was a mix of embarrassment and... something else. Perhaps he was mistaken, but it seemed to his trained eyes that her look had held... affection and warmth along with the embarrassment. Ky gave her a reassuring look, and she sat down between Ky and himself. As Dizzy took a seat at the table, Hagan could almost feel the attraction between them, though they probably weren't aware of it themselves. Hagan chuckled lightly to himself. That was rather interesting.

"Well, now that we've got everyone that we've waited for, lets get onto business." Johnny said and got up from the table. He want to his cabinet, but rather than drawing his booze, he went lower and withdrew a rolled up parchment from a drawer. He sat back down and unrolled it on the table. It was a map of Europe, with three 'X's drawn on it... each marked over a city. Hagan figured out what they notated quickly. Each 'X' notated a city that had been attacked.

"You told me before that you've got an idea... what does this map have to do with it?" asked Ky, looking at the map with curiosity.

"Yeah, I've got something figured out, but I want you all to try to figure out what it means. Each of us had a personal involvement in this, and between us, we should be able to piece this together. Assuming, of course, that this whole situation isn't something else entirely." Johnny said.

Dizzy finally spoke. "Could someone tell me what this is all about? All you told me before was that you wanted me for a meeting later." she asked, giving Ky a quick and meaningful look.

He seemed to pick up on the look, but not what it really meant. "Well... we're here to try to figure out just what is going on here. We'd like you to share whatever insight you may have on any of this discussion. You can just listen at first, if you want." Ky said, his tone gentle with her.

Hagan looked at the map. London, then Paris, and then Berlin... one after the other, all attacked with lightning speed and force. He drew a line mentally from one sight to the next, seeing if there was anything to see... but he could see no pattern or clue. Nothing about those cities seemed to be special, or at least any more special than any other city... except they each was the capital city of their respective nations.

"Only capital cities have been attacked so far, progressively moving east across Europe. Based purely on this, their next target should be the capital of Russia or some country in that area... but this is only simple speculation." Hagan said, unsure if he was actually onto anything.

"Good, good... we need any ideas we can get... What about you, Ky?" Johnny asked.

"Well... Hagan's right. Each attacked city is a capital city, and they are going east... but it can't be that simple. There's no point to simply raiding each capital like that. Sure, it stirs up fear, but it doesn't win her any actual victories." Ky said.

"Don't be so sure about that. I'm sure that Hagan will agree when I say that fear is a powerful tool, and she is winning important victories doing this." Johnny said.

"I'll agree to a point, but not entirely. Fear is an effective tool, but it wins nothing by its self. To use fear most effectively, you have to back it up eventually... give them a reason to keep being afraid, or the fear fades. You can only threaten a man with a knife but so many times before you have to cut him to keep him feeling afraid." Hagan said grimly.

"Are you saying that we should expect some kind of massive attack somewhere?" Ky asked him, his face suddenly alert.

"Perhaps... but that doesn't explain enough to make me comfortable with it. There's still far too much that's unexplained. We don't know enough..." Hagan said, looking at the map, more than a bit frustrated. He'd been trying to figure all of this out for a while now.

"What if..." Dizzy began, but then stopped. "Its nothing..." she said finally.

"What did you want to say? Nothing should be ruled out, and we want your input. Please go ahead with what you were going to say." Ky assured her gently.

"Well... I was just thinking that these attacks are... I don't know... diversionary, somehow. They don't seem to have any real intent behind them at all beyond drawing attention. It all seems like its just... meaningless if you wanted to make fear or begin to conquer. It just doesn't fit." she said, looking intently at the map.

Hagan found that the idea made sense. "It has merit. These attacks were aimed at places where they couldn't be missed by anyone... yet there hasn't been one follow-up on the attacks. Nothing was done to take advantage of the chaos, nor was anything done to enforce the fear caused by them. I think Dizzy may be on to something here." he said, nodding in thought as he did so.

All of them looked at the map in silence, each contemplating what that idea could mean. Just what was going on that would need such a drastic and costly distraction. Hagan knew that if this was the case, whatever was going on behind the scenes was very bad indeed.

"What about a diversion for an even larger offensive? This could all be in preparation for a massive attack somewhere else." Johnny said, looking at the map intently.

"No, I don't think so. If she wanted to attack a place with the intent to burn it, she could have done that instead of attacking these other cities. She lost the element of surprise when she attacked the first city. If this is a cover, its not for something so simple." Ky responded.

"If it is a diversion, its nearly impossible for us to guess at what's hidden behind it without some new information. There's too much we don't know about all of this." Hagan said, sharing his frustration at their lack of knowledge.

They all were silent for a moment, thinking about how little they really knew about these attacks and what was really behind them.

"Ahh... this is making my head hurt. Why can't Justice just stay down for once? She should know when she's not wanted." Johnny said and got up to pace around the room.

Ky just sighed and kept looking at the map as though it held some secret. Dizzy looked from Johnny to Ky, seeming unsure of what to do now. Hagan knew that nothing more would get done for now.

"Why don't we take a break and get some air or something. This is only going to frustrate us more at this time." Hagan said and got up. They all nodded in agreement and filed out of the room, each wearing a thoughtful expression.

Hagan walked the corridors of the ship, lost in thought. He knew, somehow, that there was something that they were all missing. Something that would give them the edge they needed to crack this wide open. He just had no idea what that thing could be. He kept walking and thinking, oblivious to his surroundings. What was it that he couldn't see? He swore under his breath. This was getting him nowhere, and he'd forgotten to ask about getting new weapons with all that had happened. He swore again, this time louder, and kicked the wall. He was getting more and more frustrated with all of this. What good was it to be fighting to do the right thing when he had no idea how to counter the evils that threatened those he sought to protect? What good were his actions, his good intent, if they did nothing to stop whatever was coming?

He thought of Alyssa, and knew that she would get caught up in whatever was coming if he couldn't protect her more than this. He sighed angrily and kept walking, no care as to his destination at this point. He had to do more than this if he wanted to protect those he cared about, he had to become more than this... or else all that had happened to him would have been for nothing at all.

He then had a memory intrude upon his thoughts. He was walking out of his ruined home, hours after the Gears had come and gone, repelled by that mysterious figure. He looked around and saw the devastation abound. Bodies strewn across the ground carelessly, as if some child had tired of playing with his toys and had just dropped them in mid action. Buildings were ruined, as if some unseen hand had toppled them angrily. He walked among the destruction, feeling the sorrow and pain from everywhere and everyone. He tripped and fell to the ground, and couldn't find a reason to get back up, not after what he'd seen happen to his family...

He shook his head and swore yet again. It was happening all over again, it seemed. The nightmare of Justice was returning to the world. It finally sunk in just how severe this really was. His fight with Justice, the cities attacked, and their helplessness... it all came together for him in that moment. He stopped in his tracks, feeling rather demoralized at the moment.

Why wouldn't the past just stay in the past? Why did it have to haunt everyone as if it were a vengeful ghost? It wasn't just his past haunting him, but all of the world's terrible past was coming back to ruin it again. Hagan slammed his fist into the wall, the pain focusing his helpless anger. Damn that Justice for refusing to stay in the past! Damn the terrors of the past that wouldn't stay dead! Damn the ghosts of his own past! Damn them all! Why did they all have to suffer because of what happened in the past?

Hagan took several deep breaths, and calmed himself down. He knew that it would do him no good to let his anger get the best of him. He sighed and began to walk again. He saw Rina sitting up against the wall, breathing heavily. She looked pale.

"Are you OK? What happened to you?" he asked her as he came over to her.

"I see... that loud outburst was you after all..." she said, catching her breath.

Hagan was puzzled by that comment, and then he remembered that this girl could somehow read his thoughts. "You read my mind?" he asked her.

She shook her head. "No. I don't generally do that without permission or a desperate need, but your thoughts were so... intense that I felt them anyway. Those thoughts were quite powerful, and I was unprepared for them." she said.

"Um... I guess an apology is in order... I'm sorry." he said and scratched his head.

"No apology needed. You had no way of knowing that would happen. Don't worry about it." she told him and got up.

"Just how do you do... what it is you do?" Hagan asked her. He really wanted to know how this girl could pierce the veil of the mind like she did.

"I don't know. Since I can remember, I've been able to feel other people's feelings and hear their thoughts if I wanted to or when I didn't want to sometimes. It caused me a lot of grief when I was younger, but it wasn't all that bad really. Nothing like Risetto... or you, for that matter. Between what I've heard and what I saw just then, I can tell you had a terrible time of it."she said, a hint of sympathy in her voice.

"Don't worry about me. Didn't your parents recently... oh, I'm sorry... I shouldn't have said that..." Hagan said, again finding himself apologizing to this girl.

For a moment, sorrow flickered across her face, but then she blinked and it was gone. "Don't worry about it. We both have felt this pain, and in knowing others share this pain with you, terrible as it is, there is solace." she said and gave him a slight smile.

Hagan looked at this girl again, in a new light. She was wise for her age, probably due, in part, to her... gift. "Yeah... you're right. Thanks." he told her simply.

"I need to ask you something personal. Are you dating that girl, Alyssa?" she asked him.

"Well... yes. Why do you ask?" he asked her in return.

"It seems that Risetto is doing what she usually does in a new place: she's let herself develop feelings for a man who shows her spirit. In this case, that's you." she told him, and Hagan shook his head rather assertively.

"I'm sorry, but I can't... you must understand. My feelings for Alyssa are too great to leave her for anyone. Not that there's anything wrong with Risetto..." he was blabbing, but he stopped when he saw her expression. She was trying to suppress a giggle.

"You're a nice guy, you know that? You don't have to apologize for or explain anything to me. This is something she does to herself from time to time, and it will pass. She may not like it, but she'll get over it eventually. She'll be fine." she told him, and he visibly relaxed.

"Thanks for telling me this, and for being a friend when I really needed it, Rina. If you ever need anything, feel free to ask me. I'll do what I can. We're friends now, right?" he asked her.

She smiled at him. "I guess we are now, huh. The same goes for you as well. Feel free to ask for my help anytime." she told him and waved. She then walked the opposite direction from where he was going.

He smiled, feeling much better, and he made his way to the mess hall. He needed to take his mind off of things, and he wanted to cook.

He opened the doors to the mess hall and strode in. This was where he could just be a cook and nothing else, even if just for a little while. He needed that once and a while, even when he was an assassin, he'd done this very thing. He walked into the kitchen and dove into the work. The cooking crew was happy to see him, and he felt like he was accomplishing something here. Though the work was hard, as they were preparing a special feast to welcome their two new members, but he loved every second of it. It was exactly what he needed.

Once everything was complete, he grabbed a small plate of food and went into the hall to eat, having worked up an immense hunger from all of the work. He began to eat his food, ribs cooked in a custom sauce he'd learned long ago, from his father, when he was interrupted by someone sitting at his table. It was Risetto.

"Hey! I was just looking for you!" she said, giving him an energetic smile.

"What did you need?" he asked her, though he was afraid of the answer. He thought back to his conversation with Rina and sighed.

"Well... I was just wondering... if you're not doing anything, that is... if we could, maybe, go out and see the city together? I know its a bit trashed right now, bit its still a great place! I know all of the best places to eat and shop, and I could show you around! Sounds like fun, right?" she asked him, seemingly bouncing with excitement.

It was as he feared. "Well... to be honest... it sounds like fun, but I was going to see Alyssa after I ate here. I'm sorry." he said, and then knew he'd made a mistake. He saw her expression change to one of jealousy.

"Alyssa, huh? Don't tell me you already have... a girlfriend?" she said. Her voice dropping to a near-whisper.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that do. Don't get me wrong. I'd love to go out on the town with you sometime, but I would like to go as friends." he told her, trying to make peace.

She gave him a determined look, and Hagan knew trouble was coming. "I have a rival now! This Alyssa has the man I've set my sights on, and I don't lose to anyone!" she said and grabbed his arm. Hagan struggled to free himself.

He then heard a familiar gasp from behind him. Not this, not now, he found himself thinking desperately. He turned to see Alyssa standing behind him, giving Risetto a dangerous look.

Risetto also turned, and upon seeing Alyssa, she glared at her. "You're Alyssa, I would guess. You are now my rival! I've fallen in love with Hagan here, and you're just gonna lose to me!" she taunted her, still clinging to his arm. Hagan just wanted to make a break for it now. He sighed again and watched the fireworks.

Alyssa's face was turning red, something Hagan had never seen before. "You... get your hands off of my Hagan!" she shouted at her, her expression livid.

Risetto looked just as worked up as Alyssa. "You've got a lot of nerve, you know!? He doesn't belong to you, he's free to do whatever he wants." she said to Alyssa, who was looking even angrier somehow.

Alyssa and Risetto stared one another down, the atmosphere suddenly dangerous. Risetto let go of Hagan's arm, and she stood to face this other woman. A small crowed had gathered at this point, all watching the heated argument.

Hagan walked between the two of them, intent on stopping this before it got ugly... well, uglier than it had already gotten. "Look, both of you, listen to me. Fighting here won't solve anything... it'll just make a huge mess and delay the feast. I even helped cook it. So please..." he said, nearly begging by the end of it.

The two girls looked at one another, and they both turned in the opposite direction of one another, each grumbling about the other. Risetto then gave Hagan another look, and and began to walk away, her eyes misty.

"Don't think you've won yet, Alyssa! I'll win him over before you know it!" she said and fled the hall. Hagan caught the hurt expression she wore as she left through the doors, and he felt bad. He'd tried to do the right, thing... but perhaps there was no 'right' solution, free of complications, for this kind of problem. This was new to him, being fought over like this, and he had no idea what to do about it. He sighed, knowing that this wasn't over.

Alyssa turned to Hagan after she'd left. "The rudeness of that girl...! I can't believe she's in the same crew as me! Its terrible!" Alyssa raged.

"I tried to tell her that I'd like to be her friend, but she didn't listen..." he said.

Alyssa then gave him an... insecure look. "You weren't... attracted to her... were you? I don't want to lose you to her, Hagan!" she said suddenly and clung to him.

"Don't worry about it. I'm happy with you by my side. While I'd like to be her friend, you alone hold my heart, Alyssa. Never forget that. But please try not to antagonize her if you can. I don't want any trouble on my account." Hagan told her and hugged her gently.

"Thanks, Hagan... I needed to hear that from you after seeing that. Please don't think of me as petty for all of this, OK?" she asked him and then she kissed him deeply, urgently.

Hagan was surprised, but then he went with it, returning the passion of that kiss. When their lips parted, Alyssa was blushing. "You look cute like that." Hagan teased her, and she blushed even more, causing Hagan to smile.

After lingering for a moment longer in his arms, she got up and pulled away from him. "I've made a fool of myself, haven't I?" she said sheepishly.

Hagan laughed softly. "Perhaps you over-reacted a little, but it was kinda nice to hear you challenge her for me. Perhaps even I get a little insecure at times. Don't worry about it too much." he told her.

She beamed at him. "Hey Hagan, we should go on a real date sometime. Just you and me enjoying a romantic time together. How about it?" she asked him and he couldn't refuse her.

"Sure. That sounds great, actually. We haven't really gone out for a date yet, have we?" Hagan said and took a big bite of his food. It was growing cold now, but he refused to waste food.

Hagan caught a familiar person out of the corner of his eye. Ky walked into the mess hall, followed by Dizzy. They were chatting about something, and Dizzy looked... well, happy and warm. Hagan found himself smiling at the sight. Dizzy deserved some happiness in her life, and he was glad that she was finding it.

Alyssa was also looking at the two, a melancholy expression on her face. "Dizzy liked him from the first time she saw him. She told me that once, you know? I'm glad to see them together. Hopefully, Dizzy will get the happiness she deserves." she said, smiling at them sitting and talking together.

Hagan noticed that more of the crew were arriving, and that the time of the feast was drawing nearer. He saw Rina walk in, her expression neutral. She saw him and walked over.

Alyssa looked at her with some concern. Rina took a seat at their table.

"Risetto was crying when I passed by her room. What happened" she asked them, sure it ad something to do with them.

Hagan summarized what had happened for her, and Alyssa looked a bit embarrassed by it all. When he finished, Rina sighed deeply.

"Its not your fault, Alyssa. Alice... Risetto has a way of being too brash when she should listen.

She's hopeless sometimes. I hope you two can forgive her. She means well, but she really doesn't know how to keep her feelings in check like she should. Especially you, Alyssa. Please forgive her, she just wants to be accepted." Rina said, and her voice had a trace of pleading to it.

Alyssa looked rather abashed now. "I did over-react to her antics. I shouldn't have been so mean to her, I guess. I just saw her clinging to Hagan, and I couldn't help myself. Please understand that." Alyssa said.

"Like I said, its not your fault. She can be a trying person, but she really does mean well. Just try to give her a change. She'll let go of this eventually." Rina said, and Hagan hoped she was right. He really didn't want a repeat of what had happened.

"Will... will she come for the feast? It is for both of you, after all." Alyssa asked, kindness in her voice. Hagan was glad of that.

At that, Rina smiled. "I've never known Risetto to miss free food, especially a whole feast. That woman will be here, stuffing her face. She'll come back in after she's calmed herself a bit." she said.

Hagan looked at Rina with sudden understanding. "You've been her friend for a long time, haven't you?" he asked her.

Rina's expression took on a distant look, as if she were remembering many things. She then smiled sadly. "Ever since her parents were killed, I've been looking out for her. At first, it was probably because I felt sorry for her, but we were true friends in short order. I... look up to her. She has courage and emotion in abundance, and she isn't afraid to speak her mind. I... guess I envy that in her, even if it keeps getting her into more trouble." Rina sad and laughed softly.

Alyssa sighed. "I'm glad she has such a friend. I don't know if we can ever become friends, but I'm glad that she has such a good friend in you." she said.

Johnny then walked into the hall, followed by the rest of the crew, minus Risetto. They all filed in and took seats. Just as Hagan was beginning to worry, Risetto slowly walked in as well. She looked tired and a bit drained, but the hurt expression was gone. Hagan sighed in relief. Rina got up from their table with a goodbye, and walked over to be with Risetto. They took a seat and began chatting.

Johnny got up from his seat, seeing that everyone was now there. The chatter echoing through the room quieted. He cleared his throat loudly.

"This little feast is to welcome our new crew members in. Risetto, Rina, and Hagan... our newest crew. I'm sure I speak for everyone here when I welcome you all to our family and express my hope that each of you can find what you need here with us. Now, lets eat!" he said, and she crew cheered.

Hagan hadn't expected to be mentioned in all of this, but he nodded to the crew looking his way. At that moment, it felt like family to him. The feast went well, with plenty of food to be had by all, and as Rina had said, Risetto pigged out, drawing looks from some of the crew. Alyssa went from table to table, talking with all of her friends. All in all, everyone had fun. Hagan mostly watched it all, grinning, but he did talk with some of the crew, and had a good time.

Afterwards, Hagan walked Alyssa to her room, kissed her goodnight, and walked to his room. He went in and fell onto the bed, exhausted by all of the events of the day. He sighed as he lay in bed, rather content with it all.

Hagan dreamed... a dream the he'd had before. He was trapped in that bestial body again, and he was chasing some prey again. No matter how fast hr ran, his prey was always ahead of him. In the dream, he didn't question what or why he hunted, he just did. He felt pangs of hunger as he ran, and he desired to taste his prey's flesh and sup on their meat. He ran and ran, unfettered by anything at all, just running and hunting forever, or so it seemed.

He awoke, feeling the hunger even awake. He was covered in sweat and breathing heavily. This time, he remembered the strange dream all too well. The pangs of hunger had faded, but he had felt them while awake, he was sure of it. They weren't just from that dream, it seemed to him. The hunger was too real to be just part of the dream. He looked at himself, seeing nothing different. He shook his head clear of the thoughts and washed himself. He went through his morning training as usual, taking comfort in the routine.

Hagan finished and readied himself for the new day. He walked out of his room and began making his way through the ship. He had no destination as of yet, but he walked the corridors of his home, rather content to have nothing to do. That meant that there were no problems, and that's how he liked it.

He was walking the corridors when he bumped into Johnny. "We've just gotten a lead, Hagan. We've found someone who's been watching the Gears' movements. He just got here not ten minutes ago. I was coming to get you, but you've saved me the walk. Shall we?" Johnny asked.

"Lead on." was his response. Now, perhaps they could finally figure out what was going on.


End file.
